Burkina Faso demands French troop withdrawal 'within a month'

Burkina Faso's military government has told France it wants its troops stationed in the country to leave within a month, the state news agency AIB reported.

"The Burkinabe government last Wednesday denounced the accord which has governed, since 2018, the presence of French armed forces on its territory," said AIB, adding that it had given France a month to complete its troop pull-out.

A source close to the government said the authorities had called for "the departure of French soldiers in a short time".

The decision is a sign of a further deterioration of relations between France and its former colony since a September 2022 military coup.

READ MORE: Angry protesters try to storm French Embassy in Burkina Faso

Rekindling ties with Russia

Hundreds demonstrated against Paris in the capital Ouagadougou on Friday, chanting anti-France slogans and wielding placards calling on the French army to leave the country.

France has some 400 special forces based in the country to help local forces battle the militant insurgency that has spread across the Sahel from Mali over the past decade.

The country is ruled by a military junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traore.

French troops withdrew from Mali last year, after a 2020 coup in the former French colony saw its rulers inch closer to Russia.

Burkina Faso saw officers seize power in September in the second coup in eight months.

Rekindling ties with Russia has been on the agenda in Burkina since the coup.

READ MORE: Ghana accuses Burkina Faso of contracting Russia's Wagner mercenaries