Failed Coup attempt in Burkina Faso

According to Burkina Faso's military government, security and intelligence services in the country have foiled a coup attempt on the country on Tuesday, 27th September 2023.

It alleged that officers and others had planned to destabilise the country and throw it into chaos. 

Captain Ibrahim Traoré has been the interim president of Burkina Faso since he seized power from the civilian government led by Blaise Compaore less than a year ago.

The Coup led by Captain Traoré marks the country's second coup of 2022, which took place amid a growing Islamist insurgency.

In a statement read out on television on Wednesday evening, the authorities said some arrests had been made and they were actively pursuing other suspects, without giving specific details.

It said the alleged perpetrators "had the sinister intention of attacking the institutions of the republic and plunging the country into chaos".

Hours earlier, Captain Traoré had issued a statement saying he was determined to safely lead Burkina’s transition to democracy despite adversity and the various manoeuvres to stop our inexorable march towards assumed sovereignty. 

The junta had informed that elections would take place by July 2024.

On Tuesday, rumours of a brewing mutiny led hundreds of people to take to the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou, in support of the junta.

This development comes on the same day that authorities suspended the French-language news magazine Jeune Afrique which they accused of publishing articles discrediting the armed forces in the country.

Source: BBC