[2026-06-30] @MujammaHaraket@twitter.com

On the Context of Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré’s 26 June 2026 reception welcoming H.E. Simon-Clément Seroussi, who holds the title of “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Burkina Faso”

The widely circulated photograph evinces a relationship that currently consists of ceremonial meetings and regional ambassadorship roles. “Israel’s” ambassador in question, Seroussi, is a resident ambassador in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and a non-resident ambassador to Burkina Faso, Benin, and Togo. The “Israeli” embassy page confirms Seroussi’s title as ambassador in Côte d’Ivoire; his own public profile says the post also covers Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso. The 26 June 2026 event was a credential-presentation ceremony for a new ambassador. In December 2023, Traoré also received credentials from “Israel’s” then-new ambassador Rony Yedidia Clein, resident in Abidjan. (Rony Yedidia Clein likewise was ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire and also accredited to Benin, Burkina Faso, and Togo. She presented credentials in Burkina Faso in December 2023, and in Togo in August 2023.)

Diplomatic histories evince that Burkina Faso’s diplomatic relations were inaugurated in 1961 and were severed in October 1973. Under President Aboubacar Sangoulé Lamizana, Burkina Faso, then Upper Volta, broke diplomatic relations with “Israel” following the October Arab-“Israeli” War/“Yom Kippur War.” They were re-established in October 1993 (on the heels of the Oslo Accords’ “Oslo I,” signed that September) by Blaise Compaoré, after the CIA-backed coup against Sankara. Currently, “Israel” has no resident embassy in Burkina Faso. The Israeli ambassador is based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and concurrently accredited to Burkina Faso, Togo, and Benin. “Israel’s” MFA page confirms Seroussi’s concurrent accreditation. In both Seroussi and Clein’s case, the ambassadors have lived in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

It is worth noting that, in its 9 October 2023 article title “Israel’s ‘Shin Bet’ Diplomacy in West Africa,” the “Africa Intelligence” outlet reported on “Israel’s” West Africa strategy, writing that “The Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ronen Levi aka ‘Maoz’ is turning the institution into a more strategic tool,” seeking to integrate security apparatuses into the Sahel region via such channels. Africa Intelligence reports that Traoré approved Seroussi’s position, warily noting that “Israel” seems to beinstrumentalizing the relationship to facilitate a counterweight to Burkina Faso’s rapprochement with Iran. I have not found evidence that there is reason to think that intelligence-gathering inroads have been made in Burkina Faso.

Re: Palestine, Traoré himself has not made outright public statements that I have found. Ousmane Bougouma—President of the Transitional Legislative Assembly, who has been entrusted to represent Traoré as head of state abroad, including at the November 2024 Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh—has, however. At the summit in Riyadh, on 11 November 2024, Sidwaya reported him as representing the official Burkina Faso position of “working toward a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” (translation mine).

Under Traoré, Burkina Faso’s UN record is generally pro-Palestine when it votes, though it has abstained on some Gaza-related resolutions. It was non-voting on A/RES/ES-10/21, UN Digital Library record 4025240, and A/RES/ES-10/22, record 4029732. It voted yes on Palestine’s UN status resolution A/RES/ES-10/23, record 4046991, and on the ICJ occupation advisory-opinion resolution A/RES/ES-10/24, record 4061432. It also voted yes on the Gaza ceasefire resolution A/RES/ES-10/26, record 4069197, but was non-voting on the UNRWA mandate resolution A/RES/ES-10/25, record 4069198. In 2025, it voted yes on the New York Declaration decision A/DEC/80/506, record 4088074, and on Palestine participation at the eightieth session, A/RES/80/1, record 4088513.