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Burkina Faso’s former transitional president and the alleged mastermind behind various coup plots in the country was arrested in neighbouring Togo and expelled, sources close to the case said yesterday.
Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was arrested last week in Lome and tried for “attempted destabilisation” in Burkina Faso before being taken to the airport, one of his associates said.
A regional security source and a Togolese source close to the case confirmed this information, reports AFP.
His destination was unknown but some sources mentioned a likely expulsion to Burkina Faso.
Authorities in Ouagadougou had yet to comment on the matter as of late yesterday.
The former lieutenant-colonel ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore in a January 2022 coup.
But he was himself deposed eight months later in the coup that brought military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore to power.
Burkina Faso’s military junta has accused Damiba of planning several coup plots and assassination attempts against Traore since then.
Earlier this month, it said Damiba and his co-conspirators had planned a series of “targeted assassinations” of civilian and military authorities on January 3, “starting with the neutralisation of comrade Ibrahim Traore”.
