Burkina Faso Foreign Ministry Declares French Ambassador Persona Non Grata
Luc Hallade (L), French ambassador to Burkina Faso, and General Laurent Michon (R), Commander of Barkhane Force, give a press conference, in Ouagadougou, on July 21, 2022. 
Muhammad OsmanThe development comes less than a month since Burkina Faso’s government 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.” It also comes amid growing anti-France sentiment among the public in the former French colony.Burkina Faso’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has declared тче French ambassador to Ouagadougou, Luc Hallade, persona non grata, Burkina Faso’s government spokesperson Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo confirmed to media on Monday.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. The spokesperson didn’t disclose the reasons behind Ouagadougou’s move.In the meantime, a Paris official told French media that Ouagadougou has 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.In the letter, the content of which was shared on social media on Monday, Ouagadougou authorities did not point out the reasons for the expulsion of the French representative. However, French news outlets 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.In mid-December 2022, the government of President Ibrahim Traore 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.”Hallade’s expulsion also came amid rising tensions between France and its former colony. In July 2022, Ambassador Hallade was forced to apologize after making statements comparing the situation in Burkina Faso to a civil war.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.
AfricaBurkina Faso President Urges People Not to Party on Republic Day as Security Issues Remain Unsolved11 December 2022, 14:20 GMTAuthorities 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 address the ongoing insecurity in the country, mainly caused by terrorist groups linked to Daesh* and Al-Qaeda*.In September 2022, military captain President Ibrahim Traore was sworn in as head of Burkina Faso’s transitional government following a coup against Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who himself came to power in a coup in January. Traore vowed to clean the country from the “terrorist hordes.”* Daesh and Al-Qaeda are terrorist organizations banned in Russia and many other countries around the world.
