While some media outlets have claimed that he is leaving, the French news agency said, according to a diplomatic source, that the French ambassador to Burkina Faso, Luc Hallade, is “still at work”, adding that the team is doing considerable work in difficult security conditions.
According to some media, including “Le Monde”, which cited unknown sources, the request of the Burkina Faso authorities to change the French ambassador is linked to a letter sent by the ambassador on 12 December to French expatriates in Koudougou, asking them to leave the town and go to the capital or Bobo-Dioulasso.
In the same matter and according to the same media, this behaviour prompted the Burkina Faso Foreign Minister to send a request to his French counterpart, asking for a change of diplomat, something that was not denied by the Quai d’Orsay, which confirmed to the media that it had received this letter from the Burkinabe transitional authorities, adding that they could not make a public comment on the matter.
The French ambassador had recalled the presence of 400 members of the French special forces in Ouagadougou, especially as the security situation in the country is deteriorating due to the spread of terrorist groups.