NEW YORK - The departure of the French troops epitomizes a broader malaise developing between Burkina Faso and its former colonizer, a phenomenon spreading in Francophone countries in Africa, according to the New York Times.

In Mali, Burkina Faso’s northern neighbor, thousands of French troops spent nearly a decade fighting extremists, but security did not improve, and the reach of the armed groups spread from its desert north to its more highly populated center. Malians blamed the French for the dire situation in their country, and last year, the French ambassador and several French media outlets were thrown out, while all of its troops were withdrawn under heavy pressure from the Malian government.

In December, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana accused the authorities in Burkina Faso, Ghana’s neighbor, of having signed an agreement with Wagner. “To have them operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana,” Mr. Akufo-Addo said.