According to the French investigative website Mediapart, the French ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire, Gilles Huberson, is the target of an investigation by the foreign affairs ministry into allegations of sexual violence and sexual harassment spanning a number of countries, reports RFI.
Five women have given statements attesting to degrading remarks and sexual gestures.
Although the foreign ministry has not officially given any more information besides the "administrative" recall, some are questioning why he would be sent back to Paris less than 50 days before a tense presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire, a former French colony.
Huberson was ambassador to Mali between 2013 and 2016, and then appointed to Côte d'Ivoire in 2017, an important position in the Francophone diplomatic world.
Mediapart had access to a number of eyewitness statements of women directly involved, and interviewed both men and women who had worked for or indirectly with the ambassador.
Read more of this report from RFI.
Read the Mediapart investigation in French here.