A plot to kill Burkina Faso\u2019s military leader, Capt Ibrahim Traor\u00e9, has been thwarted, the West African nation has announced.<\/p>\n
The sophisticated plan had been hatched by Lt Col Paul Henri Damiba, the military officer ousted by Traor\u00e9 in September 2022, the security minister said in a late-night broadcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur intelligence services intercepted this operation in the final hours. They had planned to assassinate the head of state and then strike other key institutions, including civilian personalities,\u201d said Mahamadou Sana, further alleging that the plot had been funded from neighbouring Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n
There has been no comment from either Col Damiba or Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n
Since seizing power, Capt Traor\u00e9 has faced at least two coup attempts and is also grappling with growing jihadist violence that has forced millions from their homes.<\/p>\n
Despite these challenges and his authoritarian reputation, the 37-year-old military leader maintains strong popular support and has gained a following across the continent for his pan-Africanist vision and criticism of Western influence.<\/p>\n
According to the security minister, the authorities uncovered a leaked video showing the plotters discussing their plans.<\/p>\n
In the footage they allegedly spoke about how they intended to assassinate the president \u2013 either at close range or by planting explosives at his residence \u2013 just after 23:00 local time on Saturday 3 January.<\/p>\n
Afterwards they allegedly planned to target other senior military and civilian figures.<\/p>\n
Sana alleged that Damiba had mobilised both soldiers and civilian supporters, secured foreign funding \u2013 most significantly 70m CFA francs ($125,000; \u00a392,000) delivered from Ivory Coast \u2013 and planned to knock out the country\u2019s drone-launch base before foreign forces could intervene.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are carrying out ongoing investigations and have made several arrests. These individuals will be brought to justice soon,\u201d the minister said on national television.<\/p>\n
Sana insisted the situation was under control and urged citizens \u201cnot to be misled, out of naivety, into dangerous schemes\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is not clear how many people have been arrested.<\/p>\n
Critics, both local and foreign, have accused Traor\u00e9 of authoritarianism and say his government suppresses dissent \u2013 including arbitrary arrests of military officers and restrictions on the media.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time the junta has pointed the finger of blame about foreign interference in its affairs at Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n
These continuing internal power struggles will further heighten regional tensions.<\/p>\n
Col Damiba served as Burkina Faso\u2019s leader from January-September 2022 after seizing power from an elected government.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A plot to kill Burkina Faso\u2019s military leader, Capt Ibrahim Traor\u00e9, has been thwarted, the West African nation has announced. The sophisticated plan had been hatched by Lt Col Paul Henri Damiba, the military officer ousted by Traor\u00e9 in September 2022, the security minister said in a late-night broadcast. \u201cOur intelligence services intercepted this operation […]<\/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-128083","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\/128083","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=128083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}