- French troops are ordered to leave within a month.
- The decision is taken due to the latest sign of France’s deteriorating relations.
- Paris has not responded.
The military government of Burkina Faso has ordered French troops stationed in the West African country to leave within a month.
The decision, announced on Saturday by the official Agence d’Information du Burkina (AIB), is the latest sign of France’s deteriorating relations with its former colony since a second military coup in September of last year.
According to the AIB, the military government suspended a 2018 military agreement that allowed French troops to remain in the country on Wednesday.
Paris did not respond immediately.
A source close to the Burkinabe military told the news agency that Ouagadougou was not severing relations with France and that the “notification only concerns military cooperation agreements”.
France has 400 special forces soldiers stationed in Burkina Faso, where they are fighting al-Qaeda and ISIL affiliates (ISIS).
In recent months, anti-French sentiment in the country has risen as a result of perceptions that France’s military presence has not improved security.
On Friday, hundreds of Burkinabes marched into the capital, Ouagadougou, demanding the expulsion of the French envoy and the closure of the French military base in Burkina Faso.
They carried massive posters of Mali and Guinean leaders, both of whom came to power through coups, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mali, another former French colony, ordered the withdrawal of French troops last year.
After nine years of fighting al-Qaeda and ISIL-affiliated groups, the last of the 2,400 French troops stationed there left in August.
Many of them have relocated to Niger and Chad.
Mali has now hired Wagner Group Russian mercenaries, who have been accused of widespread human rights violations in the country and elsewhere.
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