Burkina Faso asks French embassy’s defense attaché to leave

Burkina Faso’s military junta has ordered the French embassy’s defense attaché to leave the country due to “subversive” behavior, it said in a statement seen by Reuters on Friday.

Emmanuel Pasquier’s expulsion is the latest sign of escalating tension between the West African nation and its former colonizer France since a military government seized power in two coups last year.

The statement, dated Sept. 14, said Pasquier and his personnel had two weeks to leave the country.

France’s foreign ministry said it was looking into reports of the expulsion and could not immediately comment.

Burkina Faso’s self-appointed transition government has already ordered the departure of France’s ambassador and that of senior United Nations official Barbara Manzi. There has also been a crackdown on French media.