A week after an attempted coup in Burkina Faso, the situation remains tense in Ouagadougou, particularly among the armed forces.
Local media indicate that a meeting scheduled on April 22 at the headquarters of the general staff, which was supposed to include several army officers, was postponed and then later cancelled as the invited officers failed to show up.
According to Radio France Internationale RFI, an influx of people was seen flocking to the Mogho Naaba palace, a traditional authority in Burkina Faso. Among those seen were army personnel and families of missing civilians, further signaling tension within the West African country.
A cabinet meeting also took place on April 24 at the presidential palace under high security, with sniffer dogs and helicopters seen flying around the area during the meeting.
Some military camps were also placed under high supervision. Military vehicles were seen placed at the entrance of the General Baba Sy military camp in the southern part of the capital.
The government of Captain Ibrahim Traore has now called for massive demonstrations on April 30 in support of the regime. Their main objective is to condemn “Western interference,” especially after recent accusations by U.S. General Michael Langley of diverting the country’s gold reserves to support its own security.
Burkina Faso’s military government said on April 22 that it had foiled a “major plot” to overthrow the country’s junta leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré.
The military government first gained knowledge of the plot when it intercepted communications between a high-ranking Burkinabé military officer and terrorist leaders.
Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said on state television that plotters included current and former soldiers, as well as terrorists. He cited Captain René David Ouédraogo as one of the soldiers who rallied to the plan. Ouédraogo is currently on the run.
The coup attempt aimed to “sow total chaos, and place the country under the supervision of an international organisation”, Sana said. Plotters had planned to swarm the presidential palace on 16 April 2025.
Burkina Faso, along with its neighbors Niger and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries have vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States.
But the security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, has significantly worsened since the junta took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed both by Islamic militants and government forces.
A report by the Timbuktu Institute think tank has indicated that the jihadist activities mainly by the JNIM Jihadi group, have expanded into the region of Kayes between 2021 and 2024.
According to the institute, the JNIM is now trying to infiltrate eastern Senegal as it has increased its attacks sevenfold in the past three years.
The Kaye region is a tri-border area of Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.
JNIM, an extremist group linked to al-Qaida, has orchestared dozens of attacks in the broader Sahel region that encompasses Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin and Chad.
Benin has been the latest victim with recent attack claiming the lives of at least 70 soldiers and has for years faced spillover violence in its north from Sahel countries like Burkina Faso and Niger in their battle against Islamic extremist groups.
The tri-border area has long been a hotbed for extremist violence, primarily concentrated around the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex.
The large national park spills over into all three countries and has become a launching pad for cross-border attacks by militants.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday said he was concerned by the ongoing fighting in Sudan.
For two weeks, the Rapid Support Forces have launched a large scale onslaught on the city of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, with aid agencies warning of a potential genocide.
“I am particularly concerned about the ongoing war in Sudan where we are witnessing indiscriminate attacks against civilians, grotesque sexual violence against women and girls and humanitarians blocked, attacked and killed,” said Guterres.
Speaking at a news briefing during the United Nations Civil Society Conference in Nairobi, Guterres said the UN stood in “solidarity” with flood-hit Kenya and promised to continue to help with relief efforts.
“I extend my deepest condolences to all those affected by the devastating floods that have swept through Kenya and neighbouring countries. The United Nations stands in solidarity with the Kenyan people. And we will continue working hand in hand to support government relief efforts in any way that we can,” he said.
The UN chief also reiterated his call for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, stating the situation in Rafah rested “on a knife’s edge” ahead of a possible Israeli offensive into the southern city.
Cocaine, cannabis and opioids are getting easier to buy as criminal networks and armed groups capitalise on the fragile Sahel region’s “natural stopover point” to Europe on trafficking routes from South America, but authorities with help from the UN are taking down criminal networks and making a record number of seizures of illicit drugs.
In this feature, part of a series exploring trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on the illicit drug trade.
According to a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), drug trafficking in the Sahel continues to hinder security, economic development and the rule of law while jeopardising public health.
“Drug trafficking is well-established in the Sahel region – with detrimental consequences both locally and globally,” said Amado Philip de Andres, who heads the agency’s West and Central Africa regional office.
“Increased drug flows to West Africa and the Sahel undermine peace and stability in the region,” he said. “This is not only a security issue as armed groups are deriving revenue to finance their operations, it is also a public health issue as criminal groups tap into population growth to expand illicit drug markets.”
UNODC Cannabis seized in a drug sting. (file)
Large-scale trafficking
In some Sahelian countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – cannabis resin remains the internationally trafficked drug most commonly seized, followed by cocaine and pharmaceutical opioids.
Indeed, seizures of cocaine skyrocketed in the Sahel in 2022, from an average of 13 kg per year seized between 2015 and 2020 to 1,466 kg in 2022. UNODC assessments said this suggests the presence of large-scale cocaine trafficking through the region.
Although annual estimates were not available for 2023, by mid-year, 2.3 tons of cocaine had already been seized in Mauritania, according to the agency.
The region’s geographical location makes it a “natural stopover point” for the increasing amount of cocaine produced in South America en route to Europe, which has seen a similar rise in demand for the drug, the new report found.
UN News/Alexandre Soares Experts examine cocaine in Guinea-Bissau. (file)
‘Vicious cycle’ links trafficking and instability
The drug economy and instability in the Sahel are linked through a “vicious cycle”, the report noted, in which the weak rule of law is facilitating the expansion of the drug economy. That can, in turn, provide financial resources for maintaining or expanding conflicts, which then continue to weaken the rule of law.
The new report found that drug trafficking continues to provide financial resources to armed groups in the region, including Plateforme des mouvements du 14 juin 2014 d’Alger (Plateforme) in Algeria and Coordination des Mouvements de l’Azawad (CMA) in Mali, enabling them to sustain their involvement in conflict, notably through the purchase of weapons.
Meanwhile, traffickers are using money-laundering to disguise their illicit proceeds in a growing number of sectors, from gold to real estate. That makes financial transactions more difficult to track while giving traffickers greater economic leverage and “a veneer of legitimacy”, the report found.
Corruption enables traffickers
Corruption and money laundering are “major enablers” of drug trafficking, according to the report.
Recent seizures, arrests, and detentions in the Sahel region reveal how drug trafficking is facilitated by a wide range of individuals, which can include members of the political elite, community leaders and heads of armed groups.
Traffickers have used their income to penetrate different layers of the State, allowing them to effectively avoid prosecution, according to UNODC.
The report also highlighted overwhelming evidence of the continued involvement of armed groups in drug trafficking in the region, and found that terrorist organisation affiliates are likely to benefit indirectly through exacting zakat, a form of wealth tax, from traffickers and taxing convoys that cross areas under their control.
Terrorist groups and organised crime
Combatting terrorist groups operating in the Sahel was in the spotlight at the recent High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting, held in Abuja, Nigeria, in late April. Among concerns raised by Heads of State across the region were the increasing links between terrorism and organised crime.
Speaking at the meeting, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed described the situation in Africa, particularly in the Sahel, as dire, noting that the region now accounts for almost half of all deaths from terrorism globally.
“A major factor that has fuelled the rise in insurgency in the Sahel is organised crime, particularly the proliferation and smuggling of firearms across our porous borders,” she said. “The availability of weapons empowers terrorist groups, often better equipped with the latest technology.”
Da’esh, Al-Qaida heading south
At the gathering, UN counter-terrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov warned that Da’esh, Al-Qaida and their affiliates have made some significant gains in the Sahel and are moving southward to the Gulf of Guinea.
“We recognise that no single actor can resolve today’s threats to peace and security alone,” he said. “Instead, we need multiple actors working together, with solutions grounded in strong national ownership and supported by funding partners.”
A “step change” in commitments to address those complex challenges came with the launch of the UN Joint Appeal for Counter-Terrorism in Africa, he said, bringing together 16 UN entities in support of 10 new multipartner initiatives across the continent to tackle such critical areas as border management and countering terrorism travel on the continent and the nexus between terrorism and organised crime.
Wake-up call
Meanwhile, local and regional actors continue to join forces to combat the illegal drug trade in the Sahel, according to UNODC.
The agency’s new report should serve as a “wake-up call”, said Leonardo Santos Simão, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel.
“States in the Sahel region – along with the international community – must take urgent, coordinated and comprehensive action to dismantle drug trafficking networks and give the people in these countries the future they deserve,” he said.
MOPTI-(MaraviPost)-A bus explosion on the road between Bandiagara and Goundaka, in the Mopti area in Mali has killed at least eleven people and injured several others .
Moussa Housseyni of the local Bandiagara Youth Association in the area confirmed the toll in a statement adding that the victims were all civilians.
The blast occurred when the bus hit an explosive device with civilians on board in the region known as a hotbed for extremist violence.
The attack has not been claimed but bears the hallmark of al-Qaida-linked extremist groups who are known for placing mines on roads to target Malian army vehicles and U.N. peacekeepers, ABC reported.
The extremist groups in the region have been using mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as the weapons of choice in the previous attacks.
Security concerns across the country have deepened since the French military withdrew its last troops from Mali in August.
The UN mission in Mali found that mines and IEDs had caused 72 deaths in 2022 as of August 31. In 2021, 103 people were killed and 297 injured by IEDs and mines.
According to CNN reporting monitored by The Maravi Post, Three members of the US Special Operations Forces were killed and two others were wounded in southwest Niger near the Mali-Niger border when a joint US-Nigerien patrol was attacked Wednesday, two administration officials told US the International Media giant.
The reporting continued to state that US administration officials added that the two wounded US troops had been evacuated to the capital, Niamey, and would soon be moved to Germany. They were described by the officials as being in a “stable condition.” Continue reading 3 US clandestine troops killed in Niger→
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