Burkina Faso detains four officers after foiled coup attempt

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
28 Sep 2023 21:40
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The military prosecutor says the four are suspected of involvement in a "conspiracy against state security," while two others remain "on the run."

Burkina Faso's junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore (AFP)

Burkina Faso said on Thursday that four officers had been detained a day after the military government announced it had thwarted a coup attempt.

The four are suspected of involvement in a "conspiracy against state security," military prosecutor Ahmed Ferdinand Sountoura said in a statement seen by AFP on Thursday.

Two others are "on the run," according to the statement.

The identities of the officers were not revealed, but security sources told AFP that at least two commanders of special units were among the four arrested.

The junta said late on Wednesday that the intelligence and security services had foiled a coup attempt the previous day.

The military government said it would seek to shed "all possible light on this plot."

It comes nearly a year since junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in the West African nation on September 30, 2022.

His takeover was the country's second coup in eight months -- both triggered in part by discontent at failures to stem a raging terrorist insurgency.

The military prosecutor has urged anyone with information that can "contribute to the manifestation of the truth to come to testify."

Late on Tuesday, thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Ouagadougou following a call from Traore supporters to defend him amid rumors of a coup on social media.

Traore took to X on Wednesday to stress his "determination to lead the transition safely despite the adversity and different maneuvers to stop our inexorable march towards assumed sovereignty."

Shortly after Traore's takeover, military prosecutors in December 2022 said there had been an attempt to "destabilize state institutions."

Earlier this month, the country's military prosecutor said three soldiers had been arrested and charged with plotting against the ruling junta.

Investigators had received a tipoff about "soldiers and former soldiers working in intelligence" who were scouting out the homes and other locations used by key figures in the junta, including Traore.

Their goal was to "destabilize... the transition," it said, referring to a term used to describe interim military rule before promised elections.

Burkina Faso, an impoverished landlocked country, saw terrorists sweep in from Mali in 2015. More than 17,000 civilians, troops, and police have since died, according to an NGO monitor.

Over two million people have been forced to flee their homes, creating one of Africa's worst crises of internal displacement.

Anger within the armed forces led to a coup on January 24, 2022, toppling elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

On September 30, Kabore's rival, Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, was himself overthrown by the 34-year-old Traore.

As anti-French sentiment grew, the junta gave in January 2023, the 400 French special forces stationed there a month to leave the country after Paris was accused by the West African country that it had failed its "anti-terrorism" mission.

Traore has promised presidential elections by July 2024.