Burkina Faso Cuts Diplomatic Relations With Former Coloniser France

Burkina Faso’s military government has cut diplomatic ties with former colonial ruler France, which was a key security partner for the West African nation before relations broke down.

The junta said in a statement on Friday that it was immediately severing relations with France, accusing it of “blatant neo-colonialist ambitions and active support for subversive networks and terrorists”.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said in a statement that the country regretted the “hostile and unfounded decision, which shows the alarming deviation of the Burkinabe authorities.”

“The necessary reciprocal measures are currently being reviewed,” he said. Confavreux added that France was monitoring the safety of French government personnel and citizens in Burkina Faso and urged them to be more careful.

The West African country of 23 million people has been battered by years of violence by extremist groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as government forces often accused of extrajudicial killings. The wider Sahel region is the world’s deadliest region for extremism.

It was unclear what would follow the end of diplomatic relations or how the French embassy in Burkina Faso would be affected.

“The necessary conditions for developing relations based on mutual respect, mutual trust and respect for the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and national sovereignty are no longer met,” Burkina Faso Communications Minister Pingdwende Gilbert Ouedraogo said in a statement. he said.

Relations between the two sides deteriorated for years.

Burkina Faso’s military government has in the past targeted foreign diplomats, including French, whom it often accuses of working against its interests. The junta asked France to recall its ambassador in 2023 and declared the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in the country persona non grata; In 2024, he expelled three French diplomats for allegedly engaging in subversive activities.

France was Burkina Faso’s biggest security partner until the 2022 coup. The junta later dismissed hundreds of French forces sent to fight extremist groups.

Analysts say the violence has worsened under the military government, which has vowed to stop the violence.

In the two years following the coup, Burkina Faso forces allegedly killed twice as many civilians as extremists, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch. The report claims that government forces are responsible for at least 1,200 of the 1,837 civilians killed in the country between January 2023 and August 2025.