Burkina Faso rejects proposal to accept deportees from the US
Burkina Faso rejects U.S. deportation policy and faces visa service suspension, while other African countries accept deportees under secret agreements, with over 40 sent since July.
- On Thursday, Burkina Faso refused a US proposal to accept deportees, and the US embassy in Ouagadougou suspended most visa services, redirecting applicants to Lome, Togo.
- Under Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s leadership the government has pursued a fiercely independent, anti-Western stance and Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré called the US proposal `indecent` and against national dignity.
- More than 40 deportees have been sent to African countries since July, and Human Rights Watch said the US offered financial incentives, with Rwanda set to receive $7.5 million.
- The decision constitutes a diplomatic snub to the Trump administration, sharply rebuffing President Donald Trump’s deportation policy as Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré asked, `Is this a way to put pressure on us?`
- Recent legal challenges highlight human-rights risks tied to the deportation programme as eleven of the 14 deportees sent to Ghana last month sued over conditions and several remain detained in South Sudan and Rwanda.
Burkina Faso has said it rejected a proposal by the United States to take in foreigners being deported as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Trump aims to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally and his administration has sought to ramp up removals to third countries, including several in Africa.
Burkina Faso’s neighbour Ghana said in September the government had agreed to take in nationals from other West African countries.
But Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore told a national broadcaster on Thursday night that Ouagadougou had refused multiple approaches by the Trump administration to accept third-country deportees.
“Burkina Faso is not a land of deportation,” Traore said, calling the request from the U.S. unworthy and indecent.
Noting that Burkina Faso recently decided to lift visa fees for all Africans, he said the country’s hospitality “should not be seen as an opportunity for a third country to get rid of certain populations that it considers undesirable.”
Burkina Faso’s military-led government, headed by Ibrahim Traore, took power after two coups in 2022. Relations between the country’s authorities and Western powers have grown increasingly strained as the junta has grown closer to Russia.
