Burkina Faso expels French diplomats

Burkina Faso has expelled three French diplomats for engaging in "subversive activities", the Burkinabe foreign affairs ministry said in a notice to France quoted by the AFP news agency and French broadcaster RFI.

The notice dated 16 April did not reveal the nature of the activities.

The diplomats, who include two political advisers at the French embassy in Ouagadougou, have been asked "to leave the territory of Burkina Faso within the next 48 hours”, the notice added.

Relations between Burkina Faso and its former colonial power France have soured since Capt Ibrahim Traoré seized power in a coup in September 2022.

The junta leader has pivoted Burkina Faso towards Russia, ending its close ties with former colonial power France.

Under his rule, several French diplomats have been expelled and France's military base in the country shut down.