Burkina Faso’s military junta, on Wednesday, announced that it had thwarted a coup attempt following information from security and intelligence services.
Burkina Faso’s military rulers said in a statement on national television that the alleged perpetrators “had the sinister intention of attacking the institutions of the Republic and plunging the country into chaos”.
“At present, officers and other alleged participants in this destabilisation attempt have been arrested, and others are being actively sought,” the authorities added.
Although the statement did not identify those arrested, it said investigations are ongoing to “help unmask the instigators of this plot”.
The latest coup attempt occurred on Tuesday, according to the statement.
The military government said it would seek to shed “all possible light on this plot” and that it regretted “that officers whose oath is to defend their homeland have strayed into an undertaking of this nature”.
The country’s military prosecutor later said four people had been arrested, and two were on the run. An investigation has been opened based on “credible allegations about a plot against state security implicating officers”, the prosecutor said.
Ibrahim Traoré, junta leader, seized power on September 30, 2022, making it the country’s second coup in eight months.
The takeovers were each triggered in part by discontent at failures to stem a raging jihadist insurgency which swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
The coup leaders also said their seizure of power was to help control the country’s political instability.