Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued the following statement on 17 January on the attacks in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso:

I strongly condemn the brutal attacks in Ouagadougou.

Our sympathy goes out to the many victims and their families and friends.

At this difficult time, we stand side by side with Burkina Faso. The attacks are a fierce onslaught on a country that is on a good course – a country that recently overcame an attempted coup by peaceful means and held democratic elections.

The attacks show the magnitude of the threat to security and stability in the entire region. We must prevent the cancer of terrorism from spreading further in the Sahel and West Africa.

We cannot leave the countries of the region to face this challenge alone. Germany, along with its partners, is providing a high level of support in this field in a wide range of ways, including its role in the UN mission MINUSMA in Mali, and is willing to provide even greater support in the future.