Burkina Faso warned on Monday it would shoot down planes violating its airspace, as neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire denied veiled charges that its planes had committed any violations.
”We want the region to be peaceful and if the planes that overfly our territory, without authorisation, and which haven’t been announced continue, we will shoot them down,” said Burkinabe Foreign Minister Youssouf Ouedraogo.
”They are all kinds of planes,” he charged: ”They are planes that could be military. The violations took place several days ago.”
But Côte d’Ivoire rejected the accusations, saying its forces respected international commitments and would not violate neighbours’ airspace.
Ouedraogo said the matter had been raised at the African Union’s new Peace and Security Council, which met on Sunday ahead of a major AU summit that opens on Tuesday.
A west African diplomat said Burkina Faso had lodged a formal protest with the African Union against its former ally and west African neighbour.
”We have drawn the attention of the Ivorian authorities about their obligation to respect international law and that the peaceful co-existence that has until now prevailed should continue and that we should help Ivory Coast solve its problems,” Ouedraogo said.
In a statement from Abidjan Monday, the spokesman for Côte d’Ivoire armed forces chief of staff said in a statement: ”The Ivory Coast defence and security forces declare that they respect commitments taken before the international community and therefore would not violate the airspace of a neighbouring country.”
Relations between Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso are at a low following mutual accusations of coup plots backed by the other government.
Burkina Faso convicted an army captain in April of masterminding a plot to oust President Blaise Compaore. The captain admitted to receiving money from an aide to Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, but denied it was to be used to finance a coup.
Côte d’Ivoire has denied it was involved in the plot.
Burkina Faso has also been implicated in the armed uprising in Côte d’Ivoire in September 2002 that boiled over into civil war and continues to divide the country both geographically and politically. – Sapa-AFP