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Burkina Faso–France relations refers to the diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and France. Diplomatic relations were established on 4 August 1960. Burkina Faso was formerly part of a French colony called French Upper Volta. France has special forces stationed in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso has an embassy in Paris. France has an embassy in Ouagadougou.
In January 2023, Burkina Faso's military junta asked France to recall its ambassador amid a surge of anti-French sentiment as the country moved to develop closer ties to Russia.
History
Colonial period
Burkina Faso has been part of the CFA franc zone since 1945, when it was still the colony of Upper Volta and part of the General Government of French West Africa of the French colonial Empire. Burkina Faso has not changed its currency since then.
Republic of Upper Volta
The Republic of Upper Volta gained independence from France in 1958.
Since its creation in 1970, Upper Volta and France have been full members of La Francophonie. Burkina Faso remains a member even after the overthrow of the Republic of Upper Volta.
In 1975, France established the Saint-Exupéry French School in Ouagadougou, first as a primary school, then as a middle school and then as a high school.
Under the regime of Thomas Sankara
Since 1983, relations between Thomas Sankara and France had been strained due to his anti-imperialist stance, which challenged French influence in Upper Volta. Sankara accused French advisor Guy Penne of involvement in his 1983 arrest. Tensions worsened in 1984 when France rejected a visit by Burkinabe Minister Blaise Compaoré after executions in Ouagadougou. Sankara’s Head of Security was arrested in France for "common law crimes". Burkina Faso accused France of supporting opposition forces.
Sankara's widow and supporters have repeatedly accused France of masterminding his 1987 killing because he was a Marxist revolutionary, and so requested France to declassify military documents to check its role in the assassination. Burkina Faso also issued an arrest warrant for Blaise Compaore in 2015, accusing him of involvement in Sankara's killing.
Operation Barkhane
From 2014 to 2022, cooperation between France and Burkina Faso has been close in terms of defence and France’s Special Operations Task Force for the region, Operation Sabre, is in Burkina Faso as part of Operation Barkhane.
Since the 2022 coup
In 2022 and early 2023, several demonstrations took place in Ouagadougou to demand France's withdrawal from Burkina Faso. The country then hosted a contingent of nearly 400 soldiers of the French special forces. On January 23, 2023, Burkina Faso asked for the departure of French troops "within a month". The government of Burkina Faso, which came to power in a coup in September 2022, had shown its willingness to diversify its partnerships, particularly in the fight against jihadism, which has been raging in the country since 2015.
In August 2023, Burkina Faso ended the double taxation treaty with France.
In December 2023, four French agents of the Directorate-General of External Security (DGSE) were arrested in Ouagadougou by Ibrahim Traoré's junta. The Burkinabe authorities accused them of espionage, while France denounced it as a pretext masking the collaboration between the National Intelligence Agency (Burkina Faso) and the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia. According to Jeune Afrique in January 2024, negotiations between France and Burkina Faso are at a standstill, despite Togolese mediation. This conflict led to the dismissal of the director of the DGSE, Bernard Émié.
Trade
In 2022, France exported $384M worth of goods to Burkina Faso, including wheat, medicines and refined petroleum. Burkina Faso exported $35M worth of goods to France, including vegetable oils, cotton and soybeans.
Aid and collaboration
France is Burkina Faso’s leading bilateral donor and one of 19 priority countries in its development policy. In 2022, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), a partner of Burkina Faso for 60 years, allocated €83 million to key sectors like water, sanitation, education, energy, and local development, along with €28 million in humanitarian aid. Expertise France manages 6 projects totalling €25 million in EU- and France-funded projects focusing on economic development, security, and trust-building between defense forces and local people in fragile regions. France hosts over 2,500 Burkinabe students, providing €590,000 in scholarships. Two Instituts Français, in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso and Maison de la Jeunesse et de l’Innovation (La Ruche) are located in Burkina Faso. Research cooperation includes 50 university agreements with French institutes such as IRD, ANRS and CIRAD. Decentralized cooperation is robust, with 130 partnerships and €9 million in aid from French local authorities in 2017 (the 3rd largest recipient in the world).
References
- "Liste chronologique des ambassadeurs, envoyes extraordinaires, ministres plenipotentiaires et charges d'affaires de France a l'etranger depuis 1945" (PDF). diplomatie.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Paris says Burkina Faso requested withdrawal of French ambassador". Reuters. 2023-01-04. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- "Embassy of Burkina Faso in France" (in French). Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- "Embassy of France in Burkina Faso". Archived from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- "CFA Franc | History and information | BCEAO". www.bceao.int. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "Burkina Faso". Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (in French). Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- étrangères, Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires. "Relations bilatérales". France Diplomatie - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères (in French). Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "Projet d'établissement 2018-2021" (PDF) (in French). May 2018.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - Rockhill, Thomas Sankara; translation by Maxime Delafosse-Brown and Gabriel (2023-02-27). "Two years after the revolution: Thomas Sankara on Franco-African relations – Liberation School". Retrieved 2025-01-11.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - "Burkina Faso 'wants France to release Sankara archives'". BBC News. 2016-10-13. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "Operation Barkhane - Mapping armed groups in Mali and the Sahel". ecfr.eu. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "Le Burkina Faso officialise sa demande de rupture de la présence militaire française dans le pays" (in French). 2023-01-24. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "Burkina Faso : Macron attend «des clarifications» sur une éventuelle demande de départ des troupes françaises". Le Figaro (in French). 2023-01-21. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "Ouagadougou dénonce la convention fiscale de non double imposition avec la France". RFI (in French). 2023-08-09. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "Agents français de la DGSE détenus au Burkina Faso : coulisses d'une affaire d'État - Jeune Afrique.com". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "France (FRA) and Burkina Faso (BFA) Trade". The Observatory of Economic Complexity. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- "Burkina Faso | AFD - Agence Française de Développement". www.afd.fr. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
- étrangères, Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires. "France and Burkina Faso". France Diplomacy - Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
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