Burkina Faso’s ruling junta on Friday severed diplomatic ties with former colonial ruler France, accusing Paris of persistently acting against its interests.

The military regime led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, in power since a coup in September 2022, is pursuing a policy repressive towards critical voices and hostile to Westerners, particularly France.

“The government of Burkina Faso hereby informs the national and international community that it has decided to sever diplomatic relations with France with effect from today, June 26, 2026,” it announced in a statement read out on the west African nation’s national television.

The junta also accused France of harbouring “neocolonial ambitions, made evident by its active support for subversive networks and the terrorists who are plunging our country and the Sahel into mourning”.

Burkina Faso, like several of its neighbours, has for a decade been hit by deadly violence by jihadists affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

According to the statement, this decision “concerns exclusively the institutional framework of relations between the two states at the diplomatic level”.