Burkina Faso\u2019s military government has said it foiled a \u201cmajor plot\u201d to overthrow junta leader Capt Ibrahim Traor\u00e9, with the army alleging the plotters were based in neighbouring Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n
Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said the coup attempt was led by current and former soldiers working with \u201cterrorist leaders\u201d. The intention was to attack the presidential palace last week, he added.<\/p>\n
The aim of the plan was to \u201csow total chaos, and place the country under the supervision of an international organisation\u201d, Sana said on state television on Monday.<\/p>\n
It is the latest of several claims of attempts to remove the junta leader who seized power in 2022 amid increasing militant attacks.<\/p>\n
Burkina Faso, like its Sahel neighbours, has been battling armed jihadist groups, with an estimated 40% of the country under their control.<\/p>\n
Despite promises by Capt Traor\u00e9\u2019s military government to improve security and even seeking new security partnerships with Russia, the situation remains dire with frequent attacks from insurgents.<\/p>\n
In this latest coup attempt, which happened last week but details of which have only just been released, Sana said the plotters attempted to use Burkinabe religious and traditional leaders to sway army officers into backing the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe manoeuvre was to culminate, according to the terrorist plotters\u2019 plan, on Wednesday 16 April, 2025 in an assault on the presidency of (Burkina) Faso by a group of soldiers recruited by the nation\u2019s enemies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe brains outside the country are all located in Ivory Coast,\u201d he added, naming in particular two former army officers, believed to be behind the plot.<\/p>\n
He said \u201csensitive information was passed on to \u201cterrorists\u201d to increase attacks on the military and civilians and \u201cincite a revolt against the authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last week, several military personnel, including two officers, were arrested for planning to \u201cdestabilise\u201d the government, security sources told the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n
The Ivorian authorities have not yet commented on claims it hosted the plotters but the Burkinabe junta has often blamed its southern neighbour of supporting its opponents in exile.<\/p>\n
The latest claim comes months after Ouagadougou said it thwarted another \u201cdestabilisation\u201d plot against the junta last November.<\/p>\n
Burkina Faso, along with two other military-led states \u2013 Mali and Niger, has broken away from the regional West African bloc, Ecowas, to form a new alliance.<\/p>\n
They have cut ties with former colonial power France and allied with Russia instead.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Burkina Faso\u2019s military government has said it foiled a \u201cmajor plot\u201d to overthrow junta leader Capt Ibrahim Traor\u00e9, with the army alleging the plotters were based in neighbouring Ivory Coast. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said the coup attempt was led by current and former soldiers working with \u201cterrorist leaders\u201d. The intention was to attack the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}