Coup Atlas Research Database
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43904212025ConspiracyMilitary coup

Burkina Faso, 2025 — military coup conspiracy

Burkina Faso (BFA)West Africa, AfricaApril 21, 2025

Event Summary

This entry is coded 21 April 2025, the date on which the junta of Captain Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso publicly announced it had dismantled a major coup plot, the same episode whose planned assault had been set for 16 April 2025. On the evening of Monday 21 April 2025, Security Minister Mahamadou Sana announced on state television RTB that authorities had undone a major plot aimed at promoting a coup and sowing total chaos, with masterminds allegedly based in Cote d'Ivoire. He said the plan, set for 16 April, involved an assault on the presidency by soldiers recruited by enemies of the nation, timed with large-scale terrorist attacks, and that intercepted messages between a Burkinabe officer and terrorist leaders had exposed it.

Ouagadougou said it had asked Abidjan to extradite politicians and military personnel accused of plotting against Traore, requests Cote d'Ivoire denied. In the weeks around the announcement, authorities arrested several officers, including former military-justice battalion commander Frederic Ouedraogo and Captain Elysee Tassembedo, and large pro-junta demonstrations were held in Ouagadougou. The 21 April 2025 coding matches the public announcement.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Traore's junta announced the foiled plot and made arrests
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Captain Ibrahim Traore (target)
Security Minister Mahamadou Sana (announcing)
arrested officers Frederic Ouedraogo and Elysee Tassembedo

Sources

On the evening of Monday 21 April, Burkina Faso's military authorities announced they had dismantled a major plot aimed at promoting a coup and sowing total chaos, with Security Minister Mahamadou Sana stating that the leaders of the coup attempt were allegedly based in Cote d'Ivoire.
SOURCE REVIEWED Peoples Dispatch: Burkina Faso's government announces the dismantling of another coup attempt open source ↗
Ouagadougou said it had asked Abidjan to extradite politicians and military personnel accused of plotting against Captain Ibrahim Traore, requests that were denied by the Ivorian government, amid tensions between the two neighbours.
SOURCE REVIEWED Peoples Dispatch: Burkina Faso's government announces the dismantling of another coup attempt open source ↗
On 21 April the junta claimed to have undone a major plot planned by masterminds in neighbouring Ivory Coast, with the arrests of several top army officials, and over more than a year the junta had detained several dozen military officers accused of plotting or attempting to destabilise republican institutions.
SOURCE REVIEWED France 24/AFP: Burkina junta rallies supporters after claimed coup 'plot' open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 21 Apr 2025 matches the public announcement date. This is the SAME plot as the entry coded 16 Apr 2025 (the planned assault date); the dataset carries two adjacent entries for the one April 2025 episode (planned date and announcement date). Eighth Burkina Faso record in the run.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
43904212025

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Traore's junta announced the foiled plot and made arrests.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Africa News

“Tensions Mount In Burkina Faso A Week After The Coup Attempt,”by michael odu or, April 28,2025

BBC

“Burkina Faso Army Says it Foiled ‘Major’ Coup Plot,” by Wycliffe Muia, April 22, 2025

Brasil de Fato

“Burkina Faso’s government announces another coup attempt dismantlement,” by pedro stro pasolas, April 24, 2025

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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