The Burkinabe government has declared the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Carol Flore-Smereczniak, persona non grata, accusing the UN system of publishing a “false” report on the situation of children in the country.
“Carol Flore-Smereczniak, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System, is hereby declared persona non grata on Burkinabe territory,” government spokesman Gilbert Ouédraogo announced Monday in a statement broadcast on national television.
The Burkinabe authorities accuse her of co-chairing the drafting of a report entitled Children and Armed Conflict in Burkina Faso, which they claim was produced “without objective sources, without evidence or substantiation, and spreading serious and false information.”
According to the government, the report was prepared by a country task force co-chaired by the UN Resident Coordinator in Ouagadougou.
It covers issues including the political, military and security situation, as well as serious violations committed against children under UN Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005).
The statement denounced the report’s “narrative style,” which it said made “no distinction between terrorists and Burkina Faso’s defense and security forces,” and described it as a mere compilation of “baseless claims and falsehoods” unsupported by investigative reports or judicial rulings.
Ouédraogo added that the government regretted not being consulted during the drafting process, stressing that such engagement “would have provided a more comprehensive and unbiased picture of the situation of children in areas facing acute security challenges.”
The executive also criticised some UN agencies in Burkina Faso for what it called the “casual and deliberate use of ambiguous terminology,” which it argued reflected “a clear intent to legitimise or reframe the barbarity inflicted on the Burkinabe people for more than a decade.”
Citing “serious shortcomings” and a “total disregard” for national institutions, the government concluded that the UN Resident Coordinator “is no longer a credible interlocutor” in Burkina Faso.
HO/ac/lb/as/APA