Burkina Faso has arrested 12 people, both members of the military and civilians, in an alleged coup attempt in the impoverished West African country, authorities said on Tuesday.
State prosecutor Abdoulaye Barry said ”serious evidence” existed of a coup plot against the government of President Blaise Compaore, who has led the landlocked, resource-poor nation since 1987.
The suspects were ”conspiring to carry out subversive activities” leading to ”an attempt on the security of the state”, Barry told reporters.
The 12 were arrested since Wednesday, he said. Authorities claimed the plot dated back to 2000, and had a military captain assigned to the country’s Trade Ministry as its leader.
Other low-ranking officers, including former members of Compaore’s presidential guard and a pastor, were among those arrested, Barry said.
Authorities gave no immediate details of the alleged plot, including when it was to be carried out.
Burkina Faso, bordering the Sahara desert, is one of the world’s poorest countries. Multiparty democracy was introduced in the 1990s, after instability in the 1970s and 1980.
The country has seen five coups since independence from France in 1960. The last, in 1987, brought Compaore to power. — Sapa-AP