Burkina Faso's military government announced on Friday that it is cutting all diplomatic ties with France, its former colonial ruler, effective immediately. The decision was read out on national television, with Communications Minister Gilbert Ouedraogo stating that "the essential conditions for promoting relations based on mutual respect, reciprocal trust, respect for the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and national sovereignty are not in place." The government went further, accusing France of harbouring "neo-colonial ambitions, made evident by its active support for subversive networks and the terrorists who are plunging our country and the Sahel into mourning."

The ruling junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, has been in power since a coup in September 2022 — the second such coup in Burkina Faso within a year. Relations with Paris have deteriorated sharply since then: France withdrew all its troops from the landlocked West African country in 2023 following sustained anti-French protests, and the French broadcaster France 24 was banned from transmission there, a move that drew sharp criticism from the European Union. In January 2026, the military government formally dissolved all political parties and seized their assets, a step analysts described as a severe blow to democracy. France's Foreign Minister Barrot responded to Friday's announcement by calling it a "hostile, unfounded and unilateral decision" that "illustrates the worrying trajectory of the Burkinabe authorities."

Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in West Africa's Sahel region, has been battling deadly jihadist violence for a decade. Armed groups including the al-Qaeda-linked Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State Sahel Province have seized significant territory in the country's north, south and west, also operating in neighbouring Mali and Niger. Thousands have been killed and millions displaced. Traore's government claims to have recaptured territory from these groups, though critics have questioned those assertions. Human Rights Watch found last year that the Burkinabe military itself has committed atrocities against Fulani civilians amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The break with France is part of a broader regional shift. Mali and Niger, both also governed by military juntas following coups, have similarly expelled French forces and distanced themselves from Paris in recent years, while deepening ties with Russia and China. France, once dominant across northern, central and western Africa, has vowed to abandon the so-called "Françafrique" approach — a post-colonial system of political collusion, exclusive business access, and opaque financial arrangements — but that pledge has done little to reverse the trend. Despite the diplomatic rupture, Burkina Faso's government stressed that the decision "does not call into question the historical, human, cultural and social ties" between the two peoples, and that French nationals in the country would continue to be protected under law.