The three diplomats are Gwenalle Habouzit, Hervé Fournier, and Guillaume Reisacher. Relations between France and Burkina have deteriorated since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in September 2022 in a coup - the second in eight months.
The French ambassador in Ouagadougou, recalled after the coup, has not been replaced since. Burkina Faso has also suspended several French media outlets, including Le Monde, Radio France Internationale, France 24, Jeune Afrique, and LCI. In December 2022, the Burkinabe government expelled two French people who worked for a Burkinabe company, suspected by the authorities of being spies. They are today under house arrest, according to security sources in Burkina. They were arrested on December 1, intelligence agents according to the Burkinabe authorities, and computer maintenance technicians according to a French diplomatic source. The four French officials were arrested, then indicted two weeks later and imprisoned.