French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Saturday pledged greater military assistance to the former French colony of Burkina Faso and other countries in the Sahel region in the face of a growing insurgency, Reuters reported. French troops stepped in to help Burkina Faso during an attack by militants from al Qaeda on a hotel in its capital, Ouagadougou, last month that killed 30 people. The West African country is only just emerging from a rocky one-year transition to democratic rule that was marked by a short-lived military coup in September. Its long-time president and French ally, Blaise Compaore, was ousted by protesters in late 2014 as he sought to extend his rule.
