Eight soldiers in Burkina Faso arrested for alleged coup plot
Eight
soldiers in Burkina Faso were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of conspiring
against the government, the military prosecutor's office said.
One
of the alleged plotters tipped off the authorities on Saturday to an alleged
"plan to destabilize the institutions of the republic", the
prosecutor's office said in a statement.
An
investigation is under way and the soldiers have been questioned, it said.
Governments
in West and Central Africa are on high alert for coups after successful
putsches over the past 18 months in Mali and Guinea. The military also took over in Chad last year after
president Idriss Deby died on the battlefield.
Neighboring
governments have imposed heavy sanctions on the military rulers in Guinea
and Mali in an effort to head off any contagion effect in a region once known
as Africa's "coup belt".
Burkina
Faso appears to be especially vulnerable. Rising violence by Islamist militants
linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians
last year, prompting violent street protests in November calling for President
Roch Kabore to step down.
The
Burkinabe government at the time suspended mobile internet service for over a
week, and the tense situation led the United Nations' special envoy to West
Africa to warn against any military takeover.
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