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 destabilise 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.
Burkina Faso appears to be especially vulnerable to coups and rumours of coups.
Rising violence by Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians last year.
The growing security challenges has led to discontent among the public and in the ranks of the military.
The discontent among the public prompted 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.
Protesters this week again called for the president to take action or resign.
Reports indicate that the present situation resulted in internet disruptions across the country as the authorities attempted to disrupt communications among opposition or military plotters.
Burkina Faso has previously shut down mobile internet access amid political unrest and the shooting of protesters by a French military convoy in November 2021, issuing two 96-hour long shutdown orders to providers.
And this week, network data from NetBlocks and third-party traffic data confirm significant disruptions to internet service in Burkina Faso from the afternoon of Monday 10 January 2022 as authorities made arrests related to an alleged coup plot.
NetBlocks metrics also corroborate user reports of service issues on provider Orange (AS37577) in effect as of Tuesday 11 January 2022, indicating the likely restriction of Facebook and WhatsApp:
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=netblocks&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1480952097466105862&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fnetblocks.org%2Freports%2Finternet-disruptions-observed-in-burkina-faso-amid-coup-plot-arrests-1yPjl3AQ&sessionId=73c6b7ab497c4157af89c803b16841edb62d29f5&siteScreenName=netblocks&theme=light&widgetsVersion=86e9194f%3A1641882287124&width=550px Google Transparency metrics indicate that traffic was significantly disrupted at national scale for some 15 hours from Monday afternoon until around 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning:
The social media and messaging app restrictions can be worked around with the use of circumvention software or VPNs.
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.
Neighbouring 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.”