A plot to kill Burkina Faso’s military leader, Capt Ibrahim Traoré, has been thwarted, the West African nation has announced.

The sophisticated plan had been hatched by Lt Col Paul Henri Damiba, the military officer ousted by Traoré in September 2022, the security minister said in a late-night broadcast.

“Our intelligence services intercepted this operation in the final hours. They had planned to assassinate the head of state and then strike other key institutions, including civilian personalities,” said Mahamadou Sana, further alleging that the plot had been funded from neighbouring Ivory Coast.

There has been no comment from either Col Damiba or Ivory Coast.

Since seizing power, Capt Traoré has faced at least two coup attempts and is also grappling with growing jihadist violence that has forced millions from their homes.

Despite these challenges and his authoritarian reputation, the 37-year-old military leader maintains strong popular support and has gained a following across the continent for his pan-Africanist vision and criticism of Western influence.

Source: BBC

Rebel forces have entered the last government-held city in mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in an offensive that has forced thousands to flee across the border into Burundi, residents say.

Heavy artillery and gunfire could be heard in Uvira, with terrified residents describing the situation as chaotic.

The escalation in fighting comes despite the peace deal brokered by US President Donald Trump last week between DR Congo’s President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame to end the long-running conflict.

The M23 rebel group said it had “liberated” the city, while UN-backed Radio Okapi quoted residents as saying that rebel fighters were on major streets.

However, South Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi told local media that the army and allied militia remained in control of the city, which is just 27km (17 miles) from Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, across Lake Tanganyika.

Burundi has shut its border with DR Congo, a Burundian military source was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

One resident told the BBC that armed M23 fighters had marched in a single column into Uvira from the north-east on Wednesday, meeting no resistance.

Some residents cheered their arrival, the resident said.

The city was in lockdown, with shops and schools closed as most people stayed indoors.

“Three bombs have just exploded in the hills. It’s every man for himself,” one resident told AFP, while another added: “We are all under the beds in Uvira – that’s the reality.”

A local rights official told AP news agency that there was a “risk of a massacre” if the remaining soldiers mounted strong resistance.

“It’s chaotic, nobody’s in charge. Uvira is done for,” a Burundian officer told AFP.

Source: BBC

A group of military officers say they have seized control of Guinea-Bissau amid reports that the president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, has been arrested.

Shortly after gunshots were heard in the capital, Bissau, government sources told the BBC that Embaló had been detained.

Military officers then appeared on state TV, saying they had suspended the electoral process and would be in charge until further notice.

The West African nation had been awaiting the outcome of Sunday’s presidential election, in which the main opposition candidate had been disqualified from running.

The results were expected on Thursday – both Embaló and his closest rival Fernando Dias have claimed victory.

Late on Wednesday afternoon, Embaló told France 24 in a phone call: “I have been deposed.”

Witnesses in Bissau heard gunfire earlier on, at around 13:00 GMT, but it was not immediately clear who was involved in the shooting or if there were any casualties.

Hundreds of people on foot and in vehicles fled, seeking shelter as the shots rang out, the AFP news agency reported.

Later on, General Denis N’Canha, head of the military household at the presidential palace, read out a statement declaring a takeover.

He said officers had formed “the High Military Command for the Restoration of Order” and closed the border.

Gen N’Canha instructed the population to “remain calm”.

In addition to Embaló, the president’s army staff and a number of ministers have reportedly been arrested.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the poorest countries in the world, has seen nine coups or attempted coups since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.

Embaló has said he has survived multiple coup attempts during his time in office. However, his critics allege he has fabricated crises in order to crack down on dissent.

Guinea-Bissau has a population of just under two million people and has been called a “narco-state” by the UN, due to its role as a key transit point in trafficking cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

Source: BBC

South Africa’s ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, has been found dead near the four-star Hyatt Regency Hotel in Paris, French officials have told the BBC.

Mthethwa, 58, was reported missing by his wife on Monday evening, after a “worrying message from him”, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

He had booked a room on the 22nd floor of the high-rise hotel, whose security window was forced open, it added.

The circumstances around his death are unclear at this stage, and an investigation has been opened, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, adding that a duty magistrate was “going to the scene”.

Mthethwa was a high-ranking member of the African National Congress, the party that brought in democratic rule in 1994 with Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first black president.

He had been serving as South Africa’s ambassador to Paris since December 2023, and had previously been in government as police minister and also arts and culture minister.

He was a close ally of former President Jacob Zuma and was implicated in what is known in South Africa as the state capture inquiry, which looked into allegations of high-level corruption during Zuma’s presidency.

In a statement, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola hailed Mthethwa as a “distinguished servant of the nation”.

“I have no doubt that his passing is not only a national loss but is also felt within the international diplomatic community,” he added.

Lamola confirmed that the circumstances around Mthethwa’s death were being investigated by the French authorities.

Source: BBC

Burkina Faso’s transitional parliament has passed a bill banning homosexual acts, a little over a year after a draft of an amended family code that criminalised homosexuality was adopted by the country’s cabinet.

The new measure unanimously voted through on Monday imposes punishments of up to five years in jail, and has become part of a broader crackdown on same-sex relationships across the continent.

Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala announced on state-run media that, “the law provides for a prison sentence of between two and five years as well as fines”.

He added that foreign nationals caught breaking the law would also be deported.

Source: BBC

Mali’s military rulers say they have arrested a French national on suspicion of spying for his country in an attempt to destabilise the African nation.

In a statement read on national television late on Thursday, the junta alleged that Yann Vezilier was working “on behalf of the French intelligence service”. Mr Vezilier is yet to comment on the accusation.

His picture was also broadcast, alongside those of a number of army generals arrested recently for allegedly planning to overthrow the military government.

“The conspiracy has been foiled with the arrests of those involved,” Mali’s Security Minister Gen Daoud Aly Mohammedine said in the televised address.

France, Mali’s former colonial ruler, is also yet to comment on the man’s arrest and allegations of destabilisation.

The West African nation has been gripped by a security crisis fuelled by an Islamist insurgency since 2012 – one of the reasons given for the military takeover but attacks by jihadist groups have continued and even increased.

Following days of speculation about the alleged coup plot, Gen Mohammedine confirmed that “fringe elements of the Malian armed security forces” had been detained for seeking to “destabilise the institutions of the republic”.

“These soldiers and civilians” were said to have obtained “the help of foreign states”, the minister said.

The French national acted “on behalf of the French intelligence service, which mobilised political leaders, civil society actors and military personnel” in Mali, the minister added.

He also confirmed the arrest of two army generals, including Gen Abass Dembele, the former governor of the Mopti region, who was recently dismissed from his position.

At least 55 soldiers have been arrested so far in connection with the alleged attempted coup, security sources told AFP.

Gen Mohammedine said a full investigation was under way to identify “possible accomplices” and that “the situation is completely under control”.

Political tension has been rising in recent weeks, which have seen the arrest of former Prime Ministers Moussa Mara and Choguel Maïga over accusations of harming the reputation of the state and embezzlement.

Mara, a recent outspoken critic of the military government, has been in detention since 1 August, while Maïga is facing judicial sanctions.

In May, the junta dissolved all political parties following rare anti-government protests, which Mara described as a severe blow to reconciliation efforts initiated by the military leaders last year.

Junta leader Gen Asimi Goïta, who seized power in both 2020 and 2021, had promised elections last year, but these have never been held.

In July, the transition period was extended by five years, clearing him to continue leading the country until at least 2030.

Alongside its neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, it has enlisted the help of Russian allies to contain the jihadist attacks in the region after breaking ties with France – but there has been no significant improvements in security.

Source: BBC