Burkina Faso has rejected a proposal from the Trump administration to accept deportees from the United States, describing the offer as “indecent”. According to Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, the West African country was asked to take in non-citizens expelled by the US, in addition to its own nationals. This proposal was deemed contrary to the country’s values of dignity, as outlined by its military ruler, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré.
The US Embassy in Ouagadougou recently suspended most visa services for Burkina Faso residents, redirecting applications to its embassy in neighboring Togo. The embassy did not provide a reason for this move, but Traoré suggested it could be a “pressure tactic” in response to the country’s refusal to accept deportees. The US diplomatic note accused Burkinabe nationals of not complying with visa usage rules, prompting Traoré to emphasize that “Burkina Faso is a land of dignity, not deportation”.
The Trump administration has been striking agreements with several African nations to take in migrants under a new third-country deportation program. Since July, over 40 deportees have been sent to Africa, with countries such as Eswatini, South Sudan, Rwanda, and Ghana receiving deportees. The US has also agreed to send deportees to Uganda, although no deportations have been announced yet. Human Rights Watch has reported that the Trump administration offered financial incentives to some African countries to accept deportees, including $5.1 million to Eswatini and $7.5 million to Rwanda for migration and border management.
The deportation program has been met with protests from rights groups, who have raised concerns about the treatment of deportees. In Ghana, 11 deportees sued the government for being held in poor conditions at a military camp, while six deportees remain detained in an unspecified facility in South Sudan. The situation highlights the ongoing debate about migration policies and the treatment of deportees, with Burkina Faso’s refusal to accept deportees being the latest development in this issue. The US Embassy in Ouagadougou and the Department of Homeland Security have not commented on the matter.