Burkina Faso's junta claims it foiled a coup plot allegedly orchestrated from Ivory Coast, involving ex-officers and aimed at toppling the government.

Burkina Faso's military government announced on Monday evening that it had thwarted a coup attempt aimed at plunging the West African nation into total chaos.

According to the government, the plot's masterminds were based in neighboring Ivory Coast.

Interim President Ibrahim Traoré, a military captain who seized power in a coup in 2022, has consistently accused Ivory Coast of sheltering his adversaries.

Security Minister Mahamadou Sana, speaking on national television, said, “The meticulous work of the intelligence service has uncovered a major plot being prepared against our country, whose ultimate aim is to sow total chaos.”

Sana stated that, according to the conspirators’ plan, the coup was scheduled to culminate in an assault on Burkina Faso’s presidential palace on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. This assault was to be carried out by a group of soldiers recruited by what he termed “the nation’s enemies.”

He further asserted that “the brains outside the country are all located in Ivory Coast.” Among those accused of orchestrating the coup were former army officers Major Joanny Compaoré and Lieutenant Abdramane Barry.

Sana also said that around a dozen other officers and non-commissioned officers, including Commander Ouedraogo Frédéric, had been taken in for questioning in connection with the alleged plot.

Since the military junta led by Traoré took power in September 2022, it has cracked down heavily on perceived dissenters. Reports of kidnappings and extrajudicial detentions have become commonplace under the regime.

Just last week, a dozen military personnel, including two officers, were detained after being accused by junta supporters of plotting to destabilize the government, according to security sources cited by AFP.

Over the past year, the junta has reportedly interrogated several dozen military officers accused of conspiring to weaken the country’s republican institutions.

In July 2024, Traoré claimed that a command center for destabilizing Burkina Faso was operating out of Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast.

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has also suffered from ongoing Islamist violence perpetrated by groups affiliated with the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda. This insurgency has led to the deaths of thousands and the displacement of more than 2 million people.