Burkina Faso's military junta claimed Monday to have foiled a "major plot in the making" aimed at "sowing total chaos", saying it believed the masterminds were in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire.
Burkina Faso has been run since September 2022 by military leaders following a coup headed by Captain Ibrahim Traore, who has often blamed Côte d'Ivoire for harbouring his opponents.
Traore promised to restore security but his government has regularly silenced dissenters, and the country has seen an upsurge in kidnappings and extrajudicial arrests, particularly of civilians considered hostile to the junta.
"The meticulous work of the intelligence service revealed a major plot being prepared against our country, the ultimate aim of which is to sow total chaos", Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said in a statement read out on national television RTB.
'Brains located in Côte d'Ivoire'
"The manoeuvre was to culminate, according to the terrorist plotters' plan, on Wednesday 16 April, 2025 in an assault on the presidency of Burkina Faso by a group of soldiers recruited by the nation's enemies," he said.
"The brains outside the country are all located in Côte d'Ivoire", he added, naming in particular two former army officers, Major Joanny Compaore and Lieutenant Abdramane Barry.
Burkina Faso pardons 21 soldiers involved in failed 2015 coup
A dozen military personnel, including two officers, were arrested last week after being accused by supporters of the junta of planning to "destabilise" the government, security sources told French news agency AFP on Monday.
Traore claimed last year that Côte d'Ivoire was a "centre of operations" to destabilise Burkina.
On top of the recent political instability, Burkina Faso has since 2015 been plagued by jihadist violence from groups linked to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda.
The unrest has killed more than 26,000 people in that time, according to conflict monitor ACLED, while more than two million Burkinabe people have been displaced as a result.
(with AFP)
