Burkina Faso, A Former French Colony, Has Announced It Is Cutting All Diplomatic Ties With France
The government also accused France of actively supporting networks and armed groups that are destabilizing Burkina Faso and the wider Sahel region.
Burkina Faso, a former French colony, has completely cut diplomatic ties with France.
Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa, was a French colony until 1960.
Even after independence, France kept deep military, economic and political links across many of its former African colonies, a system often called "Francafrique," which meant French troops stationed in the country to fight armed groups.
In 2022, Burkina Faso's current government took power in a coup led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré.
After assuming office, Traore removed the previous military leader, accusing him of failing to stop attacks by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS), which have seized parts of the country's north, south and west.
Since then, Traoré has built his rule around rejecting Western, and especially French, influence, ordering French troops to leave the country, with the last French soldiers withdrawing by February 2023.
Traoré's government also expelled France's ambassador, ended a decades-old defense agreement, banned French media outlets and pulled Burkina Faso out of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional political and economic union of 12 countries of West Africa.
In their place, the government has built closer military and economic ties with Russia, Turkey and China.
On Friday, June 26, Burkina Faso's government announced on national television that it was formally severing all diplomatic relations with France, effective immediately, accusing France of having "neo-colonial ambitions."
Communications minister Gilbert Ouedraogo read the statement on Friday, saying the conditions for a relationship built on "mutual respect, reciprocal trust, respect for the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and national sovereignty" were not in place.
The government also accused France of actively supporting networks and armed groups that are destabilizing Burkina Faso and the wider Sahel region.
France has denied this, with its foreign ministry calling Burkina Faso's decision a "hostile and baseless" move that reflected a "troubling drift" by the country's authorities.
The government said the split applies only to formal diplomatic relations between the two states and does not affect the historical, cultural and social ties between the Burkinabe and French people, and that French nationals living in the country will remain protected under the law.
Burkina Faso's move follows a broader pattern across the Sahel region, where several former French colonies have moved away from Paris toward Russia and China in recent years.
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Kassy Cho
