The Burkinabe authorities had announced that they had evidence confirming an attempt at destabilisation orchestrated from abroad.
In a video broadcast on national television on Sunday, September 29, 2024, former special forces commander Ahmed Kinda, who’s considered a front man in the alleged attempt, corroborated the government’s claims about this umpteenth destabilisation attempt.
Dressed in an orange T-shirt, and surrounded by two other alleged accomplices, Commander Kinda explains that he’d been arrested by the police at a checkpoint in Niamey on August 30, while on his way with a certain Ousmane to pick up weapons for the operation.
“I reported to Colonel Damiba (Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, former transitional president), Colonel Ouoba and the civilian Abdoulaye Barry. They asked me to wait and told me that my two companions would be released. I waited, but nothing happened” he further explains.
Major Kinda also claims that he needed the support of “Central African mercenaries” to carry out the plot.
“We asked for mercenaries through Abdoulaye Barry. They are Central Africans. I asked for a company of about 150 men equipped with AK-47 rifles. In terms of collective weapons, I’ve asked for 10 PKMS, 10 RPGs and 4 mortars,” the former commander indicates.
He adds that the journalist Abdoulaye Barry had initially given Ousmane 10 million francs, but there had been a misunderstanding. Barry later paid 80 million.
On September 23, the Minister of Security, Mahamadou Sana, denounced subversion and destabilisation operations by Burkinabé living in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria, aimed at destabilising Burkina Faso.
The three West African neigbours of Burkina Faso have not responded to the allegation.
Burkina Faso’s public prosecutor has since announced a judicial enquiry, and the security minister has promised to provide the evidence to the public.
The transitional authorities have repeatedly alluded to such attempts at destabilisation.
DS/ac/sf/lb/as/APA