In Burkina Faso, the ruling junta announced in a statement on September 8 that three soldiers have been arrested for attempting to destabilize the current regime. They have been charged with “conspiracy against the state’s security,” as announced by the military prosecutor of Ouagadougou in a statement on Friday.
In late August, authorities had warned about the presence of foreign individuals with the goal of “destabilizing the Transition.” The military prosecutor’s office, which claims to have been informed in August, stated that there were reports of “military personnel and former military personnel collaborating to identify sensitive points and residences, including that of the transitional president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, and certain civilian and military authorities in order to destabilize the conduct of the transition.”
“Three (03) military personnel… were apprehended and brought before an investigating judge who charged them and placed them in pre-trial detention for military conspiracy, violation of orders, conspiracy against the state’s security, criminal association, and endangering the lives of others,” explained Magistrate Commander Alphonse Zorma. Specifically, these individuals are Adjudant Windinmalegde Kaboré, Sergent-Chef Brice Ismaël Ramdé, and ex-Caporal Sami Dah, who “readily admitted the facts.”
In December, the military prosecutor’s office had denounced another attempt to “destabilize state institutions,” involving civilians and a high-ranking officer, Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Zoungrana, who is already in custody for similar charges. Captain Traoré overthrew Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba in September 2022, who himself had carried out a coup in January 2022 against the former elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, accusing him of being incapable of combating jihadist violence that has plagued the country since 2015.
