Burkina Faso: Three army officers arrested for exfiltrating Damiba to Togo

Burkina Faso authorities have arrested three captains who had helped former leader lieutenant-colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba to flee to Togo in September, when he was deposed by incumbent captain Ibrahim Traoré.

Sidsoré Abdoul Kader Ouedraogo, Hassan Salem Diallo and Didas Charles Ouédraogo reportedly exfiltrated Damiba out of the country to Togo in an aircraft belonging to the army.

A junta including Captain Traore removed Damiba who himself came to power last January after deposing elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.

“They are accused of aircraft theft, desertion and plotting against the new Burkinabe authorities from Togo, their land of exile,” Burkina Faso’s state-run news agency said Monday.

“Messages intercepted by President Ibrahim Traoré’s men would have betrayed the three captains’ intentions to fight the new authorities. This would have prompted Lomé to send them back to their country. As soon as they arrived in Ouagadougou three days ago, the three young officers were placed under house arrest,” Radio Oméga, a local private radio said.

Captain Kader Ouedraogo was the spokesman for the Damiba-led junta that seized power early this year.