00:00 Alphonse Nikema had been preparing his trip to France for over a year.
00:05 As a medical student in Ouagadougou, he was due to start his mandatory training at a French
00:10 hospital in a few months' time.
00:14 We applied to study in France and we had to do it in October.
00:17 So since then, we've been applying.
00:20 Then on September 6th, we received an email telling us that our visas had been cancelled
00:26 because of security concerns.
00:31 Hundreds of students like him, as well as researchers and artists, are left in limbo
00:36 after relations with France turned sour following the coup in July.
00:41 That comes off the back of a string of coups in the region in recent years, including Burkina
00:46 Faso and Mali.
00:48 France, the former colonial power, closed its consular services in the region due to
00:53 security concerns and long-standing cultural ties are strained.
00:57 Students are forced to look for a plan B.
01:01 In the end, I'm not too desperate.
01:04 I'm going to do my dissertation in international law.
01:06 I will do it, with the assurance that I could even do it here or in Canada or Switzerland,
01:11 for example, even in Belgium.
01:16 There are concerns that the hiatus on issuing visas could further fuel anti-French rhetoric
01:21 in the country, as dreams as well as paperwork are delayed.
01:26 (burping)
