French defence attache is expelled from Burkina Faso

Due to “subversive activities,” France’s senior military official in the nation has been told to leave, according to various media.

According to Reuters, the French defence attaché Emmanuel Pasquier and his group have been instructed to leave Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. On the orders of the coup leaders, France called its ambassador, Luc Hallade, home in September.

According to Reuters, the Burkinabe Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to Paris on Thursday, “The government of Burkina Faso has decided… to withdraw the approval of Mr. Emmanuel Pasquier, defence attache at the French embassy in Burkina Faso for subversive activities,” giving him “a period of two weeks to leave Burkinabe territory.”

In accordance with the letter, Burkina Faso is closing its defence office in Paris and the French military mission in Ouagadougou would be disbanded.

“The accusation of subversive activities is obviously fanciful,” a French Foreign Ministry official told AFP in Paris.

According to local journalist Kader Nalima Bado, the authorities in Burkina Faso have suspended the French television networks La Chaine Info and France24 as well as Radio France Internationale and removed correspondents from the newspapers Liberation and Le Monde. Because locals believed French media outlets were biassed in their reporting, Nalima Bado asserted that the news was seen as a “good sign” in his country.