The president of Burkinabe employers Apollinaire Compaoré, defended himself on Tuesday of "traffic" with the jihadists. He is accused of being "at the heart of a traffic at the crossroads of terrorist interests".

Elected to head the National Council of Burkinabe Employers (CNPB) in October 2018, Apollinaire Compaoré was implicated in mid-March by the investigative newspaper L'Événement, according to which "the billions of cigarettes that Apollinaire Compaoré transports through Burkina Faso are financing armed groups and fueling a boiling conflict that kills hundreds of people each year".
According to this investigation entitled "Apollinaire Compaoré at the heart of a traffic at the crossroads of terrorist interests", the Burkinabe businessman has earned millions thanks to the smuggling of Philip Morris cigarettes through West Africa .

“These malicious allegations and accusations are as serious as they are unfounded and unacceptable,” the defendant said.
According to him, his "companies have never exercised and will never exercise smuggling activities, just as they have never worked and will never work, directly or indirectly, with armed or terrorist groups, and have never financed an illicit activity".