OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – The French embassy in Burkina Faso has asked local authorities to step up its protection after violent protests targeted it last week in Ouagadougou, according to a letter to the government and a diplomatic source.
In this letter, addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso and which Reuters was able to consult, the French embassy declares that the military police of Burkina did nothing when, on November 18, hundreds of demonstrators launched stones and other projectiles on its walls.
According to the letter, some of the members of the security services tasked with protecting the embassy were filmed playing cards during the protest.
Anti-French sentiment has grown in recent months in Burkina Faso, a former French colony where French soldiers are stationed, and protests targeting France have multiplied there.
According to a diplomatic source, the embassy sent a letter to the authorities over the weekend asking them to respect international conventions on the protection of diplomatic enclaves and to strengthen security around the building.
Protesters had targeted and tried to set fire to the French embassy in early October, the day after the dismissal of junta leader Paul-Henri Damiba, the second putsch in less than a year in the country.
A spokeswoman for Burkina Faso’s foreign ministry, Celine Ilboudo, said the ministry had not yet received the November 19 letter but confirmed that the French embassy had already sent a letter about it.
(Report Anne Mimault, written by Nellie Peyton; French version Diana Mandiá)
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