Four French nationals held in Burkina Faso for over a year on espionage accusations have been released, France’s foreign intelligence service said Thursday, with Paris thanking Morocco for its mediation in the case.
Relations between France and Burkina Faso deteriorated considerably after Ibrahim Traore came to power through a coup d’etat in 2022.
The Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) said that the four had been freed, confirming reports in the Moroccan media. It did not give further details.
On Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI “to thank him warmly for the successful mediation that made possible the release of our four compatriots.
The four men were arrested in the Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou on December 1, 2023 and presented by the authorities as DGSE agents.
A French diplomatic source had then indicated that they were four civil servants, holders of diplomatic passports and visas, but rejected “the accusations that these technicians were sent to Burkina Faso for reasons other than their computer maintenance work”.
