The French Executive has confirmed this Tuesday that all its diplomatic staff has left Burkina Faso after Ouagadougou announced the rupture of bilateral relations. Paris has expressed its regret for what it calls "a hostile and unfounded decision" which, in its opinion, "illustrates the worrying drift" of the authorities of the African country led by Ibrahim Traoré.
Sources from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs have told Europa Press that "all French diplomats in Burkina Faso returned to France at the end of last week" and have stressed that Paris "took note of the unilateral decision" communicated by the Burkinabe authorities the previous week.
The same sources have indicated that "we regret this hostile and unfounded decision, which reflects the worrying drift of the Burkinabe authorities" and have specified that the French government has implemented "the necessary measures", including summoning the chargé d'affaires of Burkina Faso in Paris to notify him that, "reciprocally", Burkinabe diplomatic staff must leave French territory within a maximum of seven days.
Likewise, these sources have once again rejected the accusations made by Ouagadougou against France for alleged support of terrorist groups active in the country, imputations they have described as "completely false". At the same time, they have expressed their "firm condemnation" of "all terrorist attacks, as well as the atrocities committed against the civilian population in the Sahel".
"We reiterate our full support for the affected people, the main victims of the current crisis," they added, before recalling that "France's commitment to the fight against terrorism worldwide is well known." "France has paid a high price for it," these diplomatic sources have stressed.
In this context, Paris has urged French citizens remaining in Burkina Faso to "reinforce their vigilance" and has announced that it will "soon communicate the reorganization of the consular and visa arrangements", with the aim of compensating for the closure of its Embassy in Ouagadougou and the departure of its representatives from the country.
Burkina Faso's decision to completely break relations with its former metropolis was announced on June 26, culminating several years of diplomatic cooling since the arrival to power in 2022 of a military coup junta led by Traoré. This regime has politically approached Russia and has sealed a political-military alliance with two other military governments in the region, Mali and Niger.
In its statement, the Burkinabe junta accused French authorities of exercising "incessant activism against the interests of Burkina Faso" and denounced Paris's "manifest neocolonial ambitions," which, according to Ouagadougou, would explain the "active" support for "subversive networks and terrorists who plunge the country and the Sahel into mourning and make it a pariah of the international community."
"Faced with these imperialist claims of domination of our country and subjugation of our people, we have opted for responsibility and sovereignty," defended the Burkinabe Government, which immediately pointed out that this break "in no way calls into question the historical ties" between the two states. This decision was openly criticized by France, which reiterated its "solidarity with the people of Burkina Faso and recalled "the strong ties that unite the two nations."