Burkina Faso expels French defense attache: Reports

KIGALI, Rwanda 

Burkina Faso’s military government ordered French defense attache Emmanuel Pasquier to leave the country within two weeks, local media reported Friday.

“The attaché has been expelled along with personnel of the French military office in (the capital) Ouagadougou,” Omega Radio reported, citing a statement by authorities to the French Foreign Ministry.

Pasquier is accused of carrying out “subversive activities.”

A letter by Burkina Faso’s Foreign Ministry also notified France of the immediate closure of the Burkinabe military mission in Paris, according to the report.

Relations between France and Burkina Faso have soured since the September 2022 military coup when Capt. Ibrahim Traore assumed power.

Burkina Faso ended the military pact in January it had with France, giving the former colonial power one month to withdraw troops that were in the country to help fight insurgents linked to the al-Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS terror groups.