Burkina Faso’s military government has expelled the United Nations’ top official in the country, accusing her of helping prepare a report on children and armed conflict that it says was “false and lacking credible evidence.” Government spokesman Gilbert Ouédraogo announced on state television late Monday that Carol Bernardine Flore-Smereczniak, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, was declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the country immediately.
According to Ouédraogo, the report—which was prepared under the auspices of the UN—placed state security forces and terrorist groups on the same footing without proper investigation, and failed to include Burkinabe authorities in its drafting. Flore-Smereczniak, a Mauritian diplomat who took up her post in July 2024, had been overseeing UN humanitarian and development programs in Burkina Faso, where more than two million people are displaced by conflict and nearly half the population depends on aid.
Her expulsion echoes a similar move in December 2022, when Burkina Faso forced out her predecessor, Barbara Manzi, in another diplomatic standoff with the UN. The United Nations mobilized over $738 million in aid for Burkina Faso in 2023, focusing on food security, poverty reduction, and social cohesion. But relations with the government have grown increasingly strained as the junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, pushes back against outside criticism of its military tactics. The UN has not yet formally responded to Flore-Smereczniak’s expulsion.
