The Burkina Faso transitional government condemned the expulsion of 173 Burkinabè from Côte d’Ivoire. It stated that this expulsion did not respect the “basic humanitarian rules.”

To escape terrorist attacks, thousands of Burkinabè have sought refuge in Côte d’Ivoire.

This situation is unlikely to improve relations between the two neighbors, which have been quite tense since Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the President of Burkina Faso, accused his Ivorian neighbor of hosting a “center of operations to destabilize” his country in Abidjan.

According to the latest estimates from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, there are nearly 55,000 Burkinabe refugees in Côte d’Ivoire, with the north housing the majority with 31,211 refugees.

The repatriation of Burkinabé refugees to their country of origin was due to start last June. This was an announcement from the Ivorian government last April.