• France will withdraw its military personnel from Burkina Faso within a month.
• French military mission will terminate a month.
• After receiving a written demand from Burkinabe government.

France will withdraw its military personnel from Burkina Faso within a month, according to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The French military mission will terminate a month after receiving a written demand from the Burkina Faso government to do so, the ministry said.

A deal between the governments of France and Burkina Faso has allowed French troops to be stationed on Burkinabe territory since 2018. Since 2013, French forces have been stationed in West Africa to combat Islamist organizations in the Sahel.

After the French forces left Mali in 2022 following a military coup and the subsequent deterioration of ties with the Malian government, this pullout marks the most recent step backwards for France’s military presence in the Sahel.

The French Armed Forces steadfastly rejected to comment on the make-up of the mission in Burkina Faso and added that they also had no opinion on how the withdrawal would impact French activities in the Sahel region.

The French foreign ministry said on Thursday it was recalling its ambassador to Burkina Faso, citing “the context of recent developments”, a day after Paris announced it would withdraw its troops from the African country.

“We have decided to recall our ambassador in Paris, to conduct consultations on the state and perspectives of our bilateral cooperation”, the ministry said in a statement.

As a result of views that France has not done enough to combat an Islamist insurgency that has recently expanded from Mali’s borders, protests against the French military presence have increased in Burkina.

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