Burkina Faso severs diplomatic ties with former colonial power France

The ruling junta in Burkina Faso announced on Friday that it would sever diplomatic ties with France, its former colonial ruler, citing persistent actions by Paris that it says run counter to the country’s interests.

Since the September 2022 coup that brought Captain Ibrahim Traoré to power, the military regime has adopted a hard‑line stance against critics and has expressed hostility toward Western nations, especially France.

In a statement read on the nation’s state television, the junta declared: “The government of Burkina Faso hereby informs the national and international community that it has decided to sever diplomatic relations with France with effect from today, June 26, 2026.”

The government also accused France of pursuing “neo‑colonial ambitions,” claiming that Paris’s support for subversive networks and terrorist groups is “making our country and the Sahel mourn.”

Burkina Faso, like several of its neighbors, has endured a decade of deadly violence from jihadist groups linked to Al‑Qaeda and the Islamic State.

The statement clarified that the decision affects only the institutional framework of diplomatic relations between the two states.

It added that the move “in no way calls into question the historical, human, cultural and social ties that unite the Burkinabe and French peoples.”

Anti‑French sentiment is strong in some former African colonies as the continent becomes a new arena for diplomatic competition, with growing Russian and Chinese influence.

France, once the master of vast territories across northern, central and western Africa, has played a pivotal role in the continent’s post‑colonial history, repeatedly intervening militarily since the early 1960s.

France has pledged to abandon the so‑called “Francafrique” strategy, which sought to keep francophone Africa within its sphere through political collusion, preferential access for French businesses and opaque financial arrangements, including corruption.