Côte d'Ivoire has "no problem" with its neighbouring countries, the ruling party's spokesperson said on Wednesday, after Burkina Faso's junta leader accused it of trying to destabilise the country.
Amid high diplomatic tensions in West Africa, the military leaders ruling Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger formed a new "confederation" this month known as the Alliance of Sahel States – severing ties with the regional bloc ECOWAS, and threatening the movement of people and goods in the region.
Burkina Faso's Captain Ibrahim Traore then made a speech attacking the "imperialists" he accused of wanting to undermine his country, claiming that Abidjan was hosting "a centre of operations to destabilise" Burkina Faso.
'Refuge in Côte d'Ivoire'
On Wednesday Côte d'Ivoire rebuffed the claims.
"Côte d'Ivoire has no problem with the countries that surround us – on the contrary they are our brothers and sisters," spokesperson Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani said during a press briefing of the ruling RHDP.
He said that Côte d'Ivoire's government had put a system in place to "welcome all these brothers and sisters who have real difficulties living in their country, and who find Côte d'Ivoire a refuge".
Côte d'Ivoire has set up several refugee camps for Burkinabe people fleeing recurring insurgent violence in the Sahel country.
'A country of peace'
"We are a country of peace, a country of hospitality, the promised land where all those who feel persecuted in their country can come," said Adjoumani.
He called for peace to return to Burkina Faso and urged people to "pray... that there are elections" and an "end to coups."
Traore, who has made the sovereignty of his country a cardinal point of his governance and turned his back on former colonial ruler France, criticised Côte d'Ivoire for still being an ally of Paris.
He also criticised Benin, saying that his neighbour hosted "two French bases" in the north of the country.
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