Burkina Faso expels French ambassador amid growing anger against Paris

Burkina Faso’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has declared the French ambassador to the capital Ouagadougou, Luc Hallade, a persona non grata, which practically means a ban from the country. 

As Sputnik reported, Burkina Faso’s government spokesperson Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo confirmed this to the media on January 2. 

Ouedraogo said that Hallade, who has been French Ambassador to Burkina Faso since September 9, 2019, was officially requested to leave the West African country but didn’t disclose the reasons behind Ouagadougou’s move.

A Paris official told French media that Ouagadougou sent an official letter to the French Foreign Ministry in late December 2022, demanding that Paris recall the head of French diplomacy in Burkina Faso.

The French ambassador's expulsion also comes amid rising tensions between France and its former African colony. In July 2022, Ambassador Hallade was forced to apologize after making statements comparing the situation in Burkina Faso to a civil war.

The publication recalls, that the development comes less than a month since Burkina Faso's government suspended the broadcast of France's state-owned Radio France International (RFI) amid having accused the outlet of having spread “a message to intimidate the public, attributed to a terrorist leader”. 

A few months later, the French official accused Burkinabe authorities of failing to adequately protect the buildings of the French Embassy, which were attacked during anti-French protests. At the time, protesters set barriers outside the embassy on fire.

French media outlets have cited unnamed sources as suggesting that Hallade's departure could “partially” be related to a recent letter sent by the diplomat to French nationals living in the city of Koudougou in Burkina Faso's Boulkiemdé Province, advising them to "relocate" to the country’s capital or to the city of Bobo Dioulasso in the southwest of the country.