The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel to Burkina Faso. Its stated reasons are the threat of terrorist attacks and terrorist kidnap, and the unstable political situation in the country.
The FCDO assesses that terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Burkina Faso, and that those attacks could be indiscriminate. Locations frequented by foreign nationals are named as potential targets, including diplomatic premises, transport hubs, major roads, religious sites and places of worship, shopping centres, and large crowds. Attacks are frequent across the country and are concentrated close to the borders with Mali, Niger and Cote d'Ivoire and in the eastern region.
There is a very high threat of kidnapping by Al-Qaeda and regional Islamic State affiliated groups. British nationals are seen as legitimate targets, including business travellers, aid workers and journalists. The British government does not make substantive concessions to hostage takers, and payments to terrorists are illegal under the Terrorism Act 2000. For close protection teams, Burkina Faso sits at the sharp end of the Sahel threat picture: any tasking touching the country or its border regions carries an advise-against-all-travel rating and a kidnap threat aimed directly at foreign nationals, and should be planned on that basis.
