The World Today
BRUSSELS, 20 (EUROPA PRESS)
The European Union on Wednesday denounced the move by Burkina Faso authorities to declare the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the country, Carol Flore-Smereczniak, persona non grata. She criticized violence against children in the context of the armed conflict in a report.
"The EU regrets Burkina Faso's decision to declare the UN Resident Coordinator persona non grata," said Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anitta Hipper in a social media post, indicating that support for the United Nations in promoting peace, development, and food security is "essential" for moving toward a "peaceful and prosperous future."
Burkina Faso announced the measure against Flore-Smereczniak for her "responsibility" in a report that "conveys serious and false information" about violence against children in the context of the armed conflict.
"By unilaterally confirming information, without backing it up with legally acceptable evidence, (…) the Government considers, in light of all the serious discrepancies observed, and in order to preserve and strengthen the important achievements of cooperation between Burkina Faso and the UN, that Carol Flore-Smereczniak is no longer a credible interlocutor," the Burkinabe government said in a statement.
The authorities have expressed regret that they were not involved in its preparation or informed of the study's conclusions, and have said they are "surprised by the persistence of certain United Nations agencies" in the "careless and deliberate use of ambiguous terminology, concealing a clear desire to legitimize or reclassify the barbarity to which the Burkinabe people have been subjected for a decade."
The African country has experienced a significant increase in insecurity since 2015, with attacks by al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates contributing to increased inter-communal violence and giving rise to vigilante groups, to which the government has added "volunteers."
The military junta ruling the country claims to have recovered in recent months 72.7 percent of the territory initially controlled by armed groups such as the Support for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), al-Qaeda's affiliate in the Sahel, and the Islamic State.
