Burkina Faso authorities arrest four French officials accused of espionage

 

The Burkina Faso authorities have arrested four French officials accused of espionage and carrying valid diplomatic passports, diplomatic sources have told Radio France International (RFI).

These officers, who were on a computer maintenance mission at the French Embassy in Ougadaougou, the country’s capital, were arrested in the same city on 1December.

However, it was two weeks before they were charged with espionage and imprisoned at the Maco remand centre in the capital. According to sources in the magazine Jeune Afrique, these officials would belong to the General Directorate of Foreign Security (DGSE).

The Burnkinese military junta, headed by Ibrahim Traoré since September 2022, has taken a very critical stance with Western partners, especially with France. In fact, the French military operation officially ended in February following the termination of an agreement signed between the two countries for the fight against jihadism in the Sahel, while Burkina Faso’s Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyelem of Tambela called French President Emmanuel Macro “war lord”.

Burkina Faso has generally experienced a significant increase in security since 2015, with attacks by both the Al Qaeda affiliate and the Islamic State affiliate, causing a wave of internally displaced person and refugees to other countries in the region.