Perkins Engines Are Not Destroying Their Trucks In Burkina Faso Before Leaving

Eman Hillis

News

29th August 2023

Perkins Engines Are Not Destroying Their Trucks In Burkina Faso Before Leaving

The video of vehicles destruction was dilmed In Perkoa Mine (Twitter)

The Claim

News posted on

Emerging story

Following the news that Burkina Faso is nationalising its mining firms, a video purported to show a French or European company sabotaging equipment as it faces nationalisation in Burkina Faso.

According to the claim, the employees of Perkins Engines are smashing their trucks before departure.

Given the history of France and Europe in Africa, the video has angered social media users.

The military in Burkina Faso are in the process of nationalising their mining companies. One of them, Perkins mines officials destroyed their vehicles before leaving. This is the reaction of French before leaving. ☆☆☆☆☆ If This Is Not Wickedness, Tell Me What Is. Why Not… pic.twitter.com/NGPvAOIei8
— I LOVE THE ARMY🇳🇬🇺🇦🇸🇪🇹🇩🇨🇿🇫🇷🇭🇺🇵🇱 (@stoneheart53) August 21, 2023

A supporting image within the article body

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar investigated the circulating video and found it to be misleading. The video is outdated and unrelated to nationalization in Burkina Faso.

The Video Was Filmed In Perkoa Mine

The video was filmed in 2022 and did not take place in one of Perkins Engines Mines and the owners are not French or European in general. It took place in Perkoa mine in Burkina Faso.

Contrary to the claim, the mine is not owned by a French company but by a Canadian company subcontracted to an Australian mining company called Byrnecut.

Upon a thorough reverse image investigation of a logo in one of the trucks in the video, Misbar’s team found the logo to belong to the Byrnecut company.

Destroying End-of-Life Vehicles Is The Company’s Policy

After the video went viral last year, the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries mentioned the case during a meeting of the Council of Ministers, on November 16, 2022.

According to the summary of the meeting published by the Council of Ministers, the vehicles belonged to a subcontractor of Nantou mining company called Byrnetcut SARL company. It is the company policy to destroy end-of-life vehicles, according to the mine officials.

The statement concerning the incident translates as follows, “II.3. The Minister for Energy, Mines and Quarries made a communication to the Council relating to the destruction of vehicles of a sub-contractor of the company Nantou mining SA, in this case, the company Byrnetcut SARL on the industrial mine of Perkoa.

Following the destruction of vehicles at the industrial mine of Perkoa, the Government dispatched a delegation on November 13, 2022, to the province of Sanguié, in the Center-Wes region to discuss with mine officials. It appears that six (06) vehicles were effectively destroyed according to the company's policy on the management of end-of-life vehicles according to mine officials.”

The Same Video Was Used In Spreading Misleading News Last Year

Since the video was initially filmed in 2022, social media users used it to spread misleading news claiming that the clip took place in Mail in response to the end of Operation Barkhane, a French Operation to fight Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region, launched in 2014 and ended on 9 November 2022, a week before the spread of the clip.