2023-12-20 17:14:58
Four French people were arrested in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, at the beginning of December, suspected by the Burkinabè authorities of being intelligence agents who had come to carry out espionage activities, we learned on Tuesday. Contacted by France 24, a French source close to the matter denounces a maneuver aimed at justifying the positions taken and the accusations against Paris.
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This is a file which further inflames the already very tense relationship between Paris and Ouagadougou. Four French people were arrested in the capital of Burkina Faso at the beginning of December, accused by the authorities of being intelligence agents who came to carry out espionage activities, we learned on Tuesday, December 19, from consistent sources.
“We are in the process of verifying the real field work of four French nationals presented as agents of the DGSE (External Intelligence, Editor’s note). They are currently before the investigators,” said a Burkinabè source.
Contacted by AFP, a French diplomatic source confirmed the arrest of the four men “on December 1”. “French civil servants, holders of diplomatic passports and visas” who “were in Burkina Faso to carry out a computer maintenance operation for the benefit of the French embassy”, she says.
Photos of the presidency and “suspicious” material
“On December 14, they were indicted and transferred to the Ouagadougou detention and correction center,” added this same source, indicating that “the French consulate general was able to exercise consular protection and visit them “.
“The French government takes note of the ongoing legal proceedings, but rejects the accusations according to which these technicians were sent to Burkina Faso for reasons other than their computer maintenance work. It requests their return to France without delay,” concludes this diplomatic source.
According to information obtained by France 24, the Burkinabè authorities accuse the four French people in particular of a non-compliant administrative situation, of having taken photos of the presidency or even of possessing suspicious material. Contacted by France 24, a French source close to the case denounces fanciful accusations.
“The mission of these people was well known to the Burkinabè authorities, they did not enter the territory in secret,” she indicates. The photos of the presidency are “tourist photos among dozens of others” while the incriminated material refers to “very common extraction software and user apps”, asserts this same source. The accusations against the four French people amount to “a maneuver to justify the positions taken and the accusations of the authorities against France”, she concludes.
Following this arrest, the Burkina authorities expelled the members of the DGSE post present in the country for “subversive activities”. A dozen people, according to the monthly Jeune Afrique, who “continued to cooperate with the Burkinabe services despite the tensions between Paris and Ouagadougou.”
Relations en berne
Relations between France and Burkina have deteriorated considerably since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in September 2022 through a coup – the second in eight months.
Ouagadougou denounced a 1961 military agreement with France in March, after obtaining the withdrawal of French forces. The French ambassador to Ouagadougou, recalled after the coup d’état of September 2022, has not been replaced since.
Burkina Faso has also suspended several French media outlets including Le Monde, Radio France Internationale, France 24, Jeune Afrique and LCI.
In its desire to diversify its partnerships, Burkina Faso turned in particular this year to Russia. In addition to closer military ties, Russia has notably promised to build a nuclear power plant in Burkina.
In November, Ouagadougou was one of the first African countries to receive free Russian cereals, as promised a few months earlier by Vladimir Putin. Burkina has also moved closer to its two neighbors, Mali and Niger, also governed by military regimes.
The three countries have been facing recurring jihadist attacks for several years from groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. In Burkina alone, they have caused more than 17,000 civilian and military deaths since 2015.
With AFP
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