The decision of the Burkinabe authorities is not based on any legitimate basis (Quai d’Orsay)

Three French diplomats, including two political advisers at the French embassy in Ouagadougou, have been declared “persona non grata” for “subversive activities” and asked to leave Burkina Faso, in a new sign of tensions between the country and France.

These three diplomats” they were declared persona non grata on the territory of Burkina Faso, due to subversive activities“, writes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Burkinabè in a note sent to the French Embassy in Ouagadougou. They are “asked to leave the territory of Burkina Faso within the next 48 hours,” the note dated Tuesday, April 16, 2024, specified. The decision of the Burkinabe authorities is not based on any legitimate basis. We can only regret“, said on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Paris, Christophe Lemoine, Deputy Spokesman of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who also judged ” baseless » accusations against the French.

On December 1, 2023, four French officials – intelligence officers according to Burkinabe authorities, computer maintenance technicians according to a French diplomatic source – were arrested in Ouagadougou, then charged two weeks later and jailed, according to a French source. They are under house arrest today, according to security sources in Burkina Faso. A year earlier, in December 2022, the Burkinabè government expelled two Frenchmen working for the Burkinabè company, whom the authorities suspected of being spies.

Relations between France and Burkina Faso have only worsened since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in September 2022 in a coup – the second in eight months.

– Russia, a new partner –

A few months after coming to power, Ouagadougou canceled a 1961 military agreement with France in March 2023, after winning the withdrawal of French forces. The French ambassador in Ouagadougou, recalled after the coup, has not been replaced since. Burkina Faso has also suspended several French media outlets, including Le Monde, Radio France Internationale, France 24, Jeune Afrique and LCI. In its desire to diversify its partnerships, Burkina Faso has become especially close to Russia. In addition to strengthening security relations, Russia also promised to build a nuclear power plant in Burkina Faso.

Burkinabe’s military regime has also drawn closer to its two neighbours, Mali and Niger, which are also ruled by soldiers who emerged from coups in 2020 and 2023 and have also decided to cut ties with the former French colonial power and diversify their partnerships, particularly with Moscow . The three countries have faced recurring jihadist attacks from groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for several years. In Burkina alone, since 2015, they have caused about 20,000 civilian and military deaths and about two million displaced people. These countries have grouped themselves under the AES (Alliance of Sahelian States), which has announced its intention to create a joint armed force to fight the jihadist group.

They also left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), accused of being subservient to France and of not supporting them in the fight against jihadists.

© Afriquiinfos & Agence France-Presse