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Jan 1 (Reuters) – The United States has removed Burkina Faso from the AGOA trade preference program because it does not meet the requirements of the AGOA statute, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said in a statement on Sunday.

The Biden government is “deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change of government” in Burkina Faso, the statement said.

Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries, is in the grip of an Islamist insurgency in which militants linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have killed thousands of civilians and unleashed one of the continent‘s fastest-growing humanitarian crises.

The US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) grants sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the United States if they meet certain eligibility requirements, such as:

Burkina Faso will receive “clear benchmarks” for a path to restarting the trade program, the USTR office said, adding that the Biden government will work with the Burkinabe government.

Frustrations over growing insecurity led to two coups in Burkina Faso in 2022. Both the previous and current junta have made efforts to increase security and contain the insurgency, but attacks have continued.

Nearly two million people have been displaced and live in makeshift camps, many run by the United Nations, that dot the arid land.

Just before Christmas, Burkina Faso’s military government ordered a senior United Nations official to leave the country, a decision the United Nations has challenged. Although the government gave no reason at the time of the order, its foreign minister later accused the official, Barbara Manzi, of painting a negative picture of the security situation in the country.

Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Edited by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Gerry Doyle

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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