The Burkina Faso military government says it has thwarted a plot to overthrow junta leader Ibrahim Traore.
This adds to the multiple claims of attempted coups against Mr Traore since he took power in 2022.
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The military government said it uncovered that the plotters had planned to attack the presidential palace and create hostility that would draw global attention to the country.
Speaking on the state television on Monday, the junta’s security minister, Mahamadou Sana, said the coup plotters were a combination of current and former soldiers based in Ivory Coast working alongside “terrorist leaders”.
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Burkina Faso is at the centre of armed violence in the Sahel. Since 2019, heightened violence has displaced over a million people and left critical civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, non-functional.
Although the military government had promised to improve the security situation and sought new security partnerships with Russia, the country’s security challenges have worsened over time.
Burkina Faso topped the 2024 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), becoming the first country in over a decade, outside Afghanistan or Iraq, to hold the top spot. In 2023, nearly 2,000 people were killed in 258 terrorist attacks, accounting for almost a quarter of global terrorism-related deaths, according to the report.
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Details of the latest coup and how it was foiled were not provided; however, Mr Sana stated that two former army officers were identified as key figures in the scheme.
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“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.
“The brains outside the country are all located in Ivory Coast,” he said,
He said “sensitive information was passed on to terrorists to increase attacks on the military and civilians and incite a revolt against the authorities.”
Meanwhile, according to the BBC, Ivorian authorities have not responded to Burkina Faso’s allegations that it hosted the plotters.
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