Assassination Plot Against President Ibrahim Traore Foiled
Burkina Faso’s security forces foiled a plot to kill President Ibrahim Traoré and disable a drone base, ahead of a planned military invasion, the country’s minister of security, Mahamadou Sana, announced on January 6. “Our intelligence services intercepted this operation in the final hours,” he said in a late-night TV broadcast.
As per a recording obtained by security agents allegedly showing conspirators discussing the plan, the operation was set to start an hour before midnight on January 3. “Beginning with the neutralization of Comrade Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Head of State and President of Faso, either at point-blank range or through an operation to mine his residence,” Sana said, “there were to be efforts to put the drone base out of service, and a ground military intervention by external forces.”