BURKINA FASO – MAJOR COUP ATTEMPT REPORTED AS SEVERAL ARMY OFFICERS ARRESTED

BURKINA FASO – MAJOR COUP ATTEMPT REPORTED AS SEVERAL ARMY OFFICERS ARRESTED
Dakar — Several officers of the Burkinabe armed forces were arrested, and two of them reportedly relieved of their duties as corps commanders. Several junta supporters have suggested a coup attempt, pointing the finger at exiled military personnel. No further action was taken.

According to RFI, Magistrate Commander Frédéric Ouédraogo, former commander of the Military Justice Battalion, is among the officers arrested.

According to security sources, the latter was investigating the October 23 shooting death of Commander Ismaël Touhogobou, suspected of being involved in an attempted coup. The military prosecutor had then suggested that “the arrest had gone wrong”, the same source said.

Captain Elysée Tassembedo, commander of the Northern Sector Security Forces Group based in Ouahigouya, was captured in Ouagadougou while he was in a meeting.

Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the transitional president, replaced the arrested officers quickly, without specifying their number. The atnosphere within the army is described as tense, with accusatory glances directed at former officers already expelled from the army, security sources said.

This story was translated from the original on https://fr.allafrica.com/stories/202504210245.html

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UPDATED NEWS 22 APRIL 2025 via BBC News
Burkina Faso’s military government has said it foiled a “major plot” to overthrow junta leader Capt Ibrahim Traoré, 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 “terrorist leaders”. The intention was to attack the presidential palace last week, he added.

The aim of the plan was to “sow total chaos, and place the country under the supervision of an international organisation”, Sana said on state television on Monday.

It is the latest of several claims of attempts to remove the junta leader who seized power in 2022 amid increasing militant attacks.