Hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Ouagadougou, demanding the departure of France’s envoy to Burkina Faso, Luc Hallade - recently declared a persona non grata by the West African country's government.
The demonstrators are also calling for the withdrawal of the 400 French military personnel stationed at the Kamboinsin military base in the Burkinabe capital to assist the former French colony in its fight against jihadist militants.
“The French ambassador - we want him to go back; the soldiers in Kamboinsin - we all want them to go back. Let them free Burkina,” demonstrator Abdoul Karim Sawadogo was quoted as saying.
Another demonstrator in the anti-French protest stressed that Burkina Faso is a sovereign country, adding that Paris is “not the ideal partner” for the West African nation.
“We are Burkina Faso, an independent country. Burkina Faso is a sovereign country,” demonstrator Souleymane Sawadogo stated. “We have decided we want to lead this fight - the war we are currently waging - Burkina Faso has decided to lead the fight with good partners. And we feel that France is not the ideal partner to accompany us to the final victory.”
Relations between Paris and Ouagadougou have recently deteriorated notably as anti-French sentiment grows among the Burkinabe people, who have repeatedly protested against France’s involvement in the African nation’s affairs.
Earlier this month, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed it had received a letter from the military government of Burkina Faso requesting a change in envoy. The French ministry expressed its support for its envoy in Ouagadougou, but has not yet taken steps to replace the ambassador, who was declared persona non grata.
A few days after the incident involving the French ambassador, a French newspaper reported that Paris might withdraw its special military forces stationed at a base in the Burkinabe capital next month over stalled defense cooperation.
The report said that France is reviewing the issue of future military cooperation with Burkina Faso, with the base where the French military has been deployed since 2011, being on the agenda of discussions.
In the meantime, the French Defense Ministry has not confirmed the information about whether French troops will withdraw from Burkina Faso in February, saying that Paris has not decided on the matter yet, according to the report.
In mid-December 2022, the government of interim President Ibrahim Traore, who came to power in September 2022, suspended the broadcast of France's state-owned Radio France International (RFI), accusing it of having spread “a message to intimidate the public, attributed to a terrorist leader”.
Authorities in Burkina Faso have been trying to curb terrorism since 2015. The country is part of the highly destabilized African Sahel region, known to be a hotbed for terrorist activities and banditry. During 2022, Burkina Faso witnessed two military coups within an eight-month period caused by the government’s failure to tackle the ongoing insecurity in the country, mainly caused by terrorist groups linked to Daesh* and Al-Qaeda*.
* Daesh and Al-Qaeda are terrorist organizations banned in Russia and many other countries around the world.