BREAKING: Soldiers Arrested Over ‘Plot’ Against Regime (DETAILS)

BREAKING: Soldiers Arrested Over ‘Plot’ Against Regime (DETAILS)

The vehicle carrying Burkina Faso’s new junta leader Capitain Ibrahim Traore leaves the General Sangoule Lamizana military camp in Ouagadougou on October 8, 2022, following the funerals of 27 soldiers killed as they escorted 207-vehicles in a convoy in Gaskinde.

In Burkina Faso, three soldiers have been apprehended and charged with conspiring against the ruling junta, according to the country’s military prosecutor’s statement on Friday.

Authorities received information last month about “soldiers and former soldiers working in intelligence” who were conducting surveillance on residences and other locations frequented by key figures in the junta, including strongman Captain Ibrahim Traore.

Their objective was to “destabilize… the transition,” a term used to describe the interim military rule preceding promised elections.

The investigations led to the arrest of the three individuals, who have been remanded in custody by an examining magistrate.

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They face charges related to involvement in a “military plot, breach of military orders, plotting against state security, criminal association, and endangerment,” stated military prosecutor Major Alphonse Zorma.

The three individuals were identified as Warrant Officer Windinmalegde Kabore, Sergeant Brice Ismael Ramde, and former corporal Sami Dah, who had previously been convicted in a plot against the state in 2015.

“(They) unequivocally admitted the facts,” noted Zorma.

Burkina Faso, an impoverished Sahel state, has experienced persistent instability since gaining independence from France in 1960. Last year, it witnessed two coups driven by discontent within the military over the toll from a prolonged jihadist insurgency.

Traore assumed power on September 30, 2022, at the age of 34, making him the world’s youngest leader outside of royalty. He ousted Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had removed Burkina’s elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, just over eight months prior.

Shortly after Traore’s takeover, military prosecutors in December reported an attempt to “destabilize state institutions,” involving civilians and a lieutenant-colonel named Emmanuel Zoungrana.

According to an NGO monitor called the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), over 16,000 civilians, troops, and police in Burkina Faso have lost their lives since jihadists in neighboring Mali launched their campaign in 2015. More than two million people have been displaced, resulting in one of Africa’s most severe internal displacement crises.

Traore has pledged a return to democracy with presidential elections slated for July 2024.