The Burkinabe authorities have asked the French authorities to replace Luc Hallade, the current French ambassador in Ouagadougou. This is what emerges from the official letter sent by the Burkinabe Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olivia Rouamba, to the Quai d’Orsay at the end of December, according to Jeune Afrique.
The transitional authorities of Burkina Faso have requested the departure of the French ambassador Luc Hallade from the country. This request comes in a context of deep tensions between France and Burkina Faso. “It is a crisis of confidence. It is not the end of the diplomatic relationship but it is the interlocutor that we are simply asking to change,” a source close to the case told the Agence d’Informations du Burkina Faso.
For the time being, the reasons behind the Burkinabe authorities’ request are not known. But for several analysts, this diplomatic row is linked to a letter sent by Luc Hallade to French nationals in Koudougou on 12 December 2022. In this letter, Luc Hallade asked French nationals living in the town of Koudougou (about 100 km west of Ouagadougou) to leave the town for security reasons.
A long-standing diplomatic row
In addition, during a meeting with the France-West Africa Friendship Group in the French Senate last July, Luc Hallade described the security situation in Burkina Faso as a civil war, minimising the efforts of the Burkina Faso Defence and Security Forces in the fight against terrorism. What the Burkinabe did not like.
Moreover, Luc Hallade’s expulsion comes less than two weeks (23 December 2022) after the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Burkina Faso, Barbara Manzi, was also declared persona non grata. On 18 December, two French citizens were arrested and expelled from Burkina Faso for spying on the defence and security forces.
Furthermore, according to an official statement dated 3 December 2022, the Burkinabe government has decided to suspend until further notice the broadcasting of Radio France Internationale (RFI) programs throughout the country, arguing that there are “shortcomings” in the work of the French media.
Recently, a growing anti-French sentiment has been expressed in the streets of Burkina Faso’s cities. Having surfed on this anti-French wave and these pro-Russian movements to succeed in his putsch on 30 September 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traoré is more inspired by Colonel Assimi Goïta.
After the Central African Republic and Mali, the French presence has become an embarrassment in Burkina Faso. At the rate events are unfolding, the former colonial power will be pushed out; it smells of a rupture.
