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Burkina Faso’s UN coordinator, Italian Barbara Manzi, was declared “persona non grata” on Friday and was “asked to leave the country,” a foreign ministry statement said.
“Ms. Barbara Manzi, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System, has been declared persona non grata on the territory of Burkina Faso. reason for expulsion.
Diplomatic sources say the expulsion was justified by the fact that Manzi recently “demanded and obtained the withdrawal of non-essential personnel of the (UN) system from Burkina Faso.”
The decision “risks putting the country in a delicate situation at a time when Burkina Faso urgently needs a partner to face a security and humanitarian crisis,” the sources continued.
Another diplomatic source told AFP that a “long list of accusations” had led to “blaming Burkina Faso’s diplomacy”.
In addition to demanding the withdrawal of non-essential personnel, Manzi has also been accused of “trying to exert a negative influence” and “trying to interfere in political affairs in Burkina Faso,” the sources said. .
The expulsion comes days after the deportation of two French nationals who worked for a company in Burkina Faso and were accused by the authorities of being spies.
Burkina Faso has been ruled since the end of September by Colonel Ibrahim Traoré, the inventor of the second military coup in eight months.
Burkina Faso’s Prime Minister Apollinaire Kierem de Tembera said in mid-November that he wanted to diversify the partnership “until the right formula for the benefit of Burkina Faso is found.”
He also said that “some partners” were “not always loyal,” without naming countries.
In July, Burkina Faso’s neighbor Mali was also plunged into a serious security crisis, with Olivier Salgado, the spokesperson for the United Nations Mali Mission (Minusuma), expelled the next day for publishing “unacceptable information” according to the military junta. . His 49 Ivory Coast soldiers were arrested in Bamako.
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