Today, Saturday, the Burkina Faso government officially called on the French forces on its territory to leave the country.
Last week, the Burkina Faso authorities denounced the agreement signed in 2018, which regulates the presence of the French armed forces on its territory.
The agreement provides for giving the French forces one month to leave the territory of Burkina Faso.
The request comes as the country has witnessed demonstrations for several months on a regular basis to demand the departure of French soldiers stationed in the northeast of the capital, Ouagadougou.
The demonstrators accuse France of not doing enough to help Burkina Faso in the face of terrorist attacks and sometimes of complicity with the aggressors.
Relationship strain
Relations between Burkina Faso and its former colony were strained following two military coups last year, partly caused by the authorities' failure to protect civilians from armed groups operating in the country's arid north.
Observers believe that some of the tension stems from perceptions that the French military presence in Burkina Faso did not lead to an improvement in security, knowing that angry crowds had previously targeted the French embassy and the French Cultural Center, in addition to a French military base in Burkina Faso.
And the authorities stopped broadcasting "Radio France International" last December because of reports it said were false, and that they gave voice to Islamic militants.
France has about 400 special forces soldiers in Burkina Faso, who are said to be there to help local forces fight jihadist militants who have spread across the Sahel region from Mali over the past decade.