Burkina Faso has refused to accept deportees from United States, dismissing Washington’s proposal as an affront to national dignity and a form political pressure.
The West African nation’s decision marks a rare challenge to one of President Donald Trump’s key immigration policies since his return to the White House.
The U.S administration has intensifies efforts to deport-immigrants to third countries, including nation’s they have little or no ties with.
While other African states such as Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan have recently accepted U. S deportees, Burkina Faso said it would not do the same.
“Naturally, this proposal, which we considered indecent at the time, runs completely contrary to the principle of dignity”, Foreign Minister Kara Moko-Marie Troare said in a televised statement, on Thursday.
The announcement came shortly after the U.S embassy in Quagadougou suspended visa services for most applicants in Burkina Faso citing operational reasons.
Troare, however, accused Washington of using the move as leverage.
“Is this away to put pressure on us? Is this blackmail? Whatever it is Burkina Faso is a place of dignity – a destination, not a place of expulsion”, he added.
The embassy said Burkinable citizens seeking consular services will not be redirected to Lome, the capital of neighbouring Togo.
Since seizing power in September 2022, Burkina Faso’s military leader, Captain Ibrahim Troare, has pursued a fiercely anti- imperialist foreign policy, cutting ties with former colonial power France and strengthening relations with Russia.
-9News Nigeria.
