Burkina Faso: Three French diplomats expelled due to ‘subversion’

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

They are “asked to leave the territory of Burkina Faso within the next 48 hours,” a note dated Tuesday addressed to the French Embassy in Ouagadougou specified. According to the Burkina Faso ministry, the three diplomats are Gwenaël Habouzi, Hervé Fournier and Guillaume Reisacker.

“The decision of the Burkina Faso authorities does not have any legal basis. We can only regret this,” said Deputy Press Secretary of the French Foreign Ministry Christophe Lemoine, who also considered the accusations against the French “unfounded.”

Four officials have already been arrested in December

On December 1, four French officials – intelligence agents, according to Burkina Faso authorities, and computer technicians, according to a French diplomatic source – were arrested in Ouagadougou and charged and jailed two weeks later, according to a French source . According to security sources in Burkina, they are currently under house arrest.

A year earlier, in December 2022, the Burkina Faso government expelled two Frenchmen who worked for a Burkina Faso company suspected by authorities of being spies. Relations between France and Burkina have only worsened since Captain Ibrahim Traoré took power in September 2022 in a coup – his second in eight months.

A few months after coming to power, Ouagadougou denounced the 1961 military agreement with France in March 2023, forcing the withdrawal of French troops. The French ambassador to 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.

Reconciliation with Moscow

In its efforts to diversify its partnership, Burkina Faso has become particularly close to Russia. In addition to strengthening security relations, Russia has also promised to build a nuclear power plant in Burkina.

Burkina Faso’s military regime has also grown closer to its two neighbors, Mali and Niger, which are also ruled by soldiers stemming from coups in 2020 and 2023 and have also decided to sever their ties with the former French colonial power and diversify their activities. partnerships, in particular with Moscow.

For several years, the three countries have faced repeated jihadist attacks from groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. In Burkina alone, they have caused the deaths of some 20,000 civilians and military personnel and displaced some two million people since 2015.

These countries have united to form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which has announced its intention to create a joint military force to fight jihadist groups. They also left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), accused of subjugating France and not supporting it in the fight against jihad.