By Canadian Press

Burkina Faso’s junta says its intelligence and security services have foiled a coup attempt

Sep 27, 2023 | 3:53 PM

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A coup attempt against Burkina Faso’s military government has been thwarted by the country’s intelligence and security services, authorities said Wednesday.

“Officers and other alleged actors involved in this attempt at destabilization have been arrested and others are actively sought,” junta spokesman Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo said in a statement without providing details.

The statement said the coup attempt happened on Tuesday.

Burkina Faso is one of a growing list of West African countries where the military has taken power, citing the failed promises of elected governments. It experienced its second coup in 2022 with soldiers ousting Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba about eight months after he helped overthrow democratically elected President Roch Marc Kaboré early in the year.

Capt. Ibrahim Traore was named as the transitional president and the junta set a goal of conducting elections to return the country to democratic rule by July 2024.

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Ouedraogo said those who attempted the coup had sought to “throw our country into chaos.”

An investigation into the incident is underway, he said.

The junta commended “the patriotic action and the high sense of duty” of the defense and security forces that thwarted the coup. The statement also praised the citizens “for their resolute and historic commitment to defending the Homeland and protecting it against all those who want to take us backwards into history.”

Chinedu Asadu, The Associated Press