Burkina Faso severs ties with France

Burkina Faso’s military government has severed diplomatic ties with France, its former colonial ruler that had been a key security partner for the West African nation before relations fractured, reports NBC News. The junta said on Friday it broke off relations with France effective immediately, accusing it of ‘blatant neo-colonial ambitions and active support for subversive networks and terrorists’, without providing evidence. France’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said the country regrets the ‘hostile and unfounded decision, which illustrates the worrying drift of the Burkinabè authorities’. ‘Necessary reciprocal measures are currently under review,’ he said. Confavreux added that France is monitoring the safety of French Government personnel and citizens in Burkina Faso and urged them to exercise heightened vigilance. The West African country of 23m people has been battered by years-long violence perpetrated by extremist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as government forces often accused of extrajudicial killings. Its 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. France was Burkina Faso’s major security partner until a 2022 coup. The junta then sacked hundreds of French forces sent to fight extremist groups.