Paris confirms the request of the Burkinabè authorities asking for the departure of the French ambassador
The storefront of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris.
(Drawing).
LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
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The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received a letter from the Burkinabè authorities to request the recall of its ambassador to Ouagadougou.
The Quai d'Orsay confirmed it this evening to RFI.
Since yesterday, the Burkinabè press had leaked this request from the Burkinabè Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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The Quai d'Orsay acknowledges having been informed of the request from the Burkinabè authorities.
“
An unusual move,
” he explains, without adding any further comments.
For now, according to a diplomatic source quoted by AFP, the French ambassador to Ouagadougou, Luc Hallade, is "
still at work
".
And to add that the embassy team “
does a remarkable job in difficult conditions.
»
Why are the Burkinabè authorities asking for the departure of the French ambassador?
According to the daily
Le Monde
, it was a letter from the ambassador to the French nationals of Koudougou that set the fire to the powder.
Luc Hallade asks them to leave this locality, located 100 kilometers west of Ouagadougou for security reasons.
He suggests that they settle in the capital or in Bobo-Dioulasso instead.
For now, Burkina does not seem to be breaking its diplomatic ties with France.
According to
Jeune Afrique
, the Burkinabè Ministry of Foreign Affairs is instead asking to change interlocutors.
A fortnight ago, Burkina had already
expelled the United Nations coordinator
.
The authorities accused him in particular of having decided "unilaterally" to withdraw non-essential UN personnel from Ouagadougou.
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To read also Headlines: diplomatic tension between Burkina Faso and France
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