France has decided to suspend all its "development aid and budget support actions" to Burkina Faso "until further notice," the Foreign Ministry has announced.
This statement comes soon after Burkina Faso and Mali expressed their solidarity with the soldiers who seized power in Niger, supporting the new self-declared Niger leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani.
"Burkina Faso and Mali are sending a delegation to Niamey, led by the Malian Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration, Government Spokesperson. Objective: to show the solidarity of the two countries to the brotherly people of Niger," the Malian Armed Forces said in a statement.
On July 26, Niger's presidential guard ousted and detained country's President Mohamed Bazoum, closed the borders and imposed a curfew in the state "until further notice."
Moreover, on July 31, ECOWAS condemned the coup, suspended financial aid, and threatened to intervene militarily. The bloc gave Niger's coup leaders one week to reinstate the detained president and restore constitutional order.
"In the event the authorities' demands are not met within one week, [ECOWAS will] take all measures necessary to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. Such measures may include the use of force. For this effect, the chiefs of defense staff of ECOWAS are to meet immediately," the bloc stated.
On January 18, the Ouagadougou authorities had requested the departure, within a month, of the French forces in Burkina Faso. France withrew its troops, but had not at the time suspended either its development aid or its budgetary aid, as it had earlier done for Mali.
In the same vein, on July 29, three days after the military came to power in Niger, Paris suspended all its development aid and budget support actions in Niger.
The French development aid projects in favor of Burkina Faso are worth €482 million, while the budget aid programmed in 2022 amounts to €13 million, indicated the French Republic.
Relations between France and Burkina Faso have deteriorated since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in September 2022.