Burkinabe Government Orders Senior UN Official to Leave

By Staff, Agencies

Burkina Faso has ordered the United Nations’ coordinator in the country to leave by the end of the day, declaring her "persona non grata," the foreign ministry said Friday.

Italian diplomat Barbara Manzi, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Burkina Faso, "is declared persona non grata in the territory of Burkina Faso," the ministry said, without giving any official reason for the expulsion.

"She is therefore requested to leave Burkina Faso today, 23 December 2022."

Meanwhile, Burkinabe Foreign Minister Olivia Rouamba said Manzi's decision to "unilaterally" withdraw non-essential UN staff from the capital Ouagadougou justified the move.

The withdrawal "discredits and tarnishes the image of the country and puts off potential investors. It's unthinkable and we have to take responsibility," she told national television.

Rouamba said Manzi had "predicted chaos in Burkina Faso in the coming months," adding that the United Nations should act as a "support structure" as the West African state battles a bloody extremist insurgency.

A poor landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, Burkina Faso has since 2015 been plagued by attacks perpetrated by terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh [Arabic for ‘ISIS/ISIL’].

The insurgency has claimed thousands of lives and driven around two million people from their homes.