Burkina Faso, 2026 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 3 January 2026, corresponding to the January 2026 foiled plot to assassinate Captain Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso and overthrow his government. On 6 January 2026 Security Minister Mahamadou Sana announced on national television RTB that intelligence services had intercepted, in its final hours, an operation set to begin just before 11 pm on Saturday 3 January 2026. According to Sana, citing an intercepted recording of the conspirators, the plan was to neutralize Traore, either at close range or by mining his residence, then disable the country's strategic drone base and clear the way for a foreign-backed ground intervention, followed by targeted assassinations of other military and civilian figures.
The government named exiled former transitional president Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, living in Togo, as the mastermind, accusing him of recruiting soldiers and civilians and raising funds, including 70 million CFA francs (about 125,000 US dollars) allegedly routed from Cote d'Ivoire. Arrests were ongoing, and crowds rallied in Ouagadougou in support of Traore. The 3 January 2026 coding matches the planned operation date.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
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
43901032026
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Traore's junta said it foiled the assassination 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
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Africa News
BBC
Business Insider
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 →