Alfred Nikiema, a medical student from Burkina Faso, glowed as he read an email from his school allowing him to begin applying for a visa to train at a French hospital the next year. This move had been put on hold after France froze consular services in his nation.
Due to deteriorating relations with France as a result of coups in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger during the past three years, hundreds of students, researchers, and artists with upcoming professional travels to France—trips that might require months of planning—have been concerned about acquiring their visas.
In response to rising anti-French sentiment, the juntas who took control turned against former colonial power France, expelling its ambassadors and troops.
Many years after the nations obtained independence, critics of France claim that the country has attempted to maintain an inordinate amount of economic and political influence. France claims to have gotten out of this dynamic.
Long-standing cultural links have also been strained as relations with several of the West African republics soured, leading France to withdraw its consular services in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger out of security concerns.
French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to rebuild ties with its former colonies in Africa amid rivalry for influence from Russia and China. As a result of the visa issue, French development assistance and cooperation with the three nations has been suspended.
According to a French diplomatic source, France granted 907 student and trainee visas to Burkinabe nationals last year, 689 to Malians, and 436 to Nigeriens who wanted to study or intern there.
However, this year, citizens from the three West African Sahel states who have long had access to education and employment opportunities in France are being forced to reevaluate their plans and risk losing a year in the process.
Nikiema was on the verge of abandoning his desire to spend a year in France for his required psychiatry specialisation when he decided to do his internship in a Burkina Faso hospital.
“Being able to go to another country and have different experience is enriching,” he said.
Tondri Yara, a student of international law, waited for positive news in front of a French immigration agency in the nation’s capital, Ouagadougou.
Since October 2022, the 28-year-old had been preparing for his exchange programme at a French university campus.
You are unable to obtain a visa at the last minute. Making a plan change requires a lot of effort, he noted.
For his thesis, which he was supposed to complete in France, Yara has alternative possibilities. He listed Burkina Faso, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium as plausible choices, though changing would probably slow down the procedure.
The French government has told those already present in France that they are still welcome and can continue with their activities.
According to data from the French organization Campus France, which promotes French higher schools overseas, around 3100 students from Mali, 2300 students from Burkina Faso, and 100 students from Niger studied in French public universities in 2021–2022.
