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Africa North
Burkina: 4 French officials arrested on suspicion of espionage
2023-12-21
[AFRICANEWS] Four French civil servants, intelligence agents according to a Burkinabè source, and computer maintenance technicians according to a French diplomatic source, were arrested in Ouagadougou at the beginning of December, we learned Tuesday evening, in a context of very tense relations between Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president used to be Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and was chased out in 2014. Now it's the usual army officer type guy, Captain Ibrahim Traore, running things, who's just doing a bang-up job unless he's already been deposed...
and La Belle France.

"We are in the process of verifying the real field work of four Frenchies presented as agents of the DGSE (External Intelligence, editor's note). They are currently before Sherlocks," said the Burkinabè source.

For its part, a French diplomatic source declared to AFP that "on December 1, four French officials, holders of diplomatic passports and visas, were arrested in Ouagadougou by the Burkinabè police. These four technicians were in Burkina Faso to carry out a computer maintenance operation for the benefit of the French embassy".

"On December 14, they were indicted and transferred to the Ouagadougou detention and correction center", she continued. The same source adds 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 accusations that these technicians were sent to Burkina Faso for reasons other than their computer maintenance work. He requests their return to La Belle France without delay", concludes this diplomatic source.

According to a European diplomatic source, these French people "are known to their Burkinabe colleagues". The magazine Jeune Afrique wrote on Tuesday that the four men are accused of "espionage", the Burkinabe source also indicated."The brother country of Togo is helping to find a solution".

Related:
Ouagadougou: 2023-12-10 Niger: General Abdourahamane Tiani on official visit to Togo
Ouagadougou: 2023-12-07 Mauritania and Chad pave the way for the dissolution of the G5 Sahel anti-jihadist alliance
Ouagadougou: 2023-11-04 Burkina Faso repatriates fourteen military trainees trained in Côte d'Ivoire
Related:
Burkina Faso: 2023-12-19 South African paramedic Gerco van Deventer, hostage in the Sahel since 2017, freed
Burkina Faso: 2023-12-12 MINUSMA lowers its flag in Mali
Burkina Faso: 2023-12-10 Burkina abandons French as an official language
Related:
Togo: 2023-12-16 Niger: '’content'' of transition ''agreed'' before ECOWAS opinion
Togo: 2023-12-16 Niger: West African court orders Mohamed Bazoum's ''immediate'' release
Togo: 2023-12-16 Nigeria: Separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu to remain in jail after supreme court's ruling
Posted by:Fred

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