Burkina Faso announces end of diplomatic relations with France

The junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré since a September 2022 coup, has pursued a sovereignist policy, suppressing critical voices and expressing hostility towards Western nations, particularly former colonial power France. In a statement read on national television, the government accused France of harboring "neo-colonial ambitions" and actively supporting "subversive networks and terrorists" impacting Burkina Faso and the Sahel region, which has faced a decade of jihadist violence from groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The government clarified that this decision exclusively targets the institutional framework of diplomatic relations between the two states and does not affect the historical, human, cultural, and social ties between the Burkinabe and French people.