U.N. says Burkina Faso has no grounds to expel senior official

The United Nations on Saturday said Burkina Faso had no grounds for ordering senior U.N. official Barbara Manzi to leave the country and that the doctrine of “persona non grata” could not be applied to her.
Burkina Faso’s military government on Friday put out a statement instructing Manzi, appointed U.N. resident coordinator last year, to leave the West African country with immediate effect.
Foreign Minister Olivia Rouamba later accused Manzi of painting a negative picture of the security situation in Burkina Faso, which has been grappling with a violent Islamist insurgency since 2015.
Manzi “predicted chaos in Burkina Faso in the next few months”, Rouamba said on national television, alleging she had unilaterally recommended the evacuation of some U.N. staff and their families from the capital Ouagadougou.