Russia agrees to build nuclear power plant in Burkina Faso

The government of Burkina Faso made this known on Friday, October 13, 2023, as it announced an agreement with the Russian government for the power plant to cover the energy needs of its population.

Inadequate energy supply remains one of the challenges confronting the West African nation, with less than a quarter of the country having access to electricity.

Burkina Faso fell under the control of a military junta last year, and the new regime had embarked on a quest to rejig its foreign partnerships, a move that saw the country sever ties with its colonial master, France, and tilting towards Russia.

“The government of Burkina Faso has signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a nuclear power plant.

“The construction of this nuclear power plant in Burkina Faso is intended to cover the energy needs of the population,” a government statement revealed.

The two countries signed on the dotted lines for the agreement at the Russian Energy Week in Moscow this week. The event was attended by Burkina Faso’s Energy Minister Simon-Pierre Boussim and Nikolay Spassky, the deputy director general of Russia’s state atomic energy agency Rosatom.

Burkina Faso said the agreement reflects the wishes of its leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, who had told Russian President Vladimir Putin back in July of his country’s needs.

The document “fulfils the wish of the president of (Burkina) Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore, expressed last July at the Russia-Africa summit during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin,” the statement added.

For its part, Rosatom said in a statement that “the memorandum is the first document in the field of the peaceful use of atomic energy between Russia and Burkina Faso.”

It added that the agreement laid the foundation for cooperation in areas including the use of nuclear energy in industry, agriculture and medicine.