Burkina Faso’s transitional government last Wednesday evening foiled “an attempted coup d’état” the previous day, almost a year after Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in a putsch.
In a statement broadcast on national television, the government “informs public opinion that a proven coup attempt was foiled on September 26, 2023 by Burkina Faso’s intelligence and security services”.
“At present, officers and other alleged actors involved in this destabilization attempt have been arrested and others are being actively sought”, continues the government, which deplores the fact that the perpetrators of this attempted putsch “had the dark intention of attacking the institutions of the Republic and plunging (the) country into chaos”.
On Tuesday evening, thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Ouagadougou in response to a call from supporters of Captain Traoré to “defend” him in the face of rumors of a putsch that were circulating on social networks.
Asserting that it wanted to shed “all possible light on this plot”, the government “regrets that officers whose oath is to defend the homeland have strayed into an enterprise of this nature, which aims to hinder the march of the Burkinabe people for their sovereignty and total liberation from the terrorist hordes who are trying to enslave them”.
In December, the military prosecutor’s office had already denounced an attempt to destabilize the regime and announced the arrests of military personnel.
