Three French diplomats, including two political advisors at the French embassy in Ouagadougou, were declared “ persona non grata ” For ” subversive activities » and asked to leave Burkina Faso, according to the Burkinabe Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
These three diplomats “ are declared persona non grata on the territory of Burkina Faso, for subversive activities », writes the ministry in a note addressed to the French embassy in Ouagadougou, a copy of which Agence France-Presse (AFP) obtained this Thursday, April 18. They ” are asked to leave ” the Burkina Faso ” in the next 48 hours », Specifies the note dated Tuesday April 16.
READ ALSO : Correspondents of “Monde” and “Libération” expelled from Burkina: France definitively persona non grata
On December 1, four French officials – intelligence agents according to the Burkinabe authorities, computer maintenance technicians according to a French diplomatic source – were arrested in Ouagadougou, indicted and then incarcerated, according to the French source. They are today under house arrest, according to security sources in Burkina.
A year earlier, in December 2022, the Burkinabe government had expelled two French people who worked for a Burkinabe company, suspected by the authorities of being spies. Relations between France and Burkina have deteriorated considerably since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in September 2022, through a coup – the second in eight months.
READ ALSO : Political weakness, jihadism… Burkina Faso in full disintegration
A few months after coming to power, Ouagadougou denounced a 1961 military agreement with France, after having obtained the withdrawal of French forces. The French ambassador in Ouagadougou, recalled after the coup, has not been replaced since.
In its desire to diversify its partnerships, Burkina Faso has notably moved closer to Russia and its two neighbors, Mali and Niger, also governed by military regimes. The three countries have been facing for several years recurring jihadist attacks from groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. In Burkina alone, they have caused some 20,000 civilian and military deaths and around two million displaced people since 2015.
