Eleven Nigerian military personnel remain in Burkina Faso days after their plane made an “unauthorised” landing in the south-west city of Bobo Dioulasso, despite earlier suggestions they had been freed, deepening confusion about the diplomatic standoff.
Burkinabé authorities told the BBC on Tuesday that the troops had been released and given permission to return to Nigeria, but officials in Abuja say the matter is still unresolved. The Nigerian daily Punch quoted Kimiebi Ebienfa, a foreign ministry spokesperson, as saying late on Wednesday that the Nigerian embassy in Ouagadougou was “engaging with the host authorities to secure their release”.
The incident began on Monday when a Nigerian military cargo plane, a C-130 travelling from Lagos to Portugal, was forced to land in Burkina Faso. Authorities in the country, a member of the three-state Alliance of Sahel States (AES), called the landing an “unfriendly act carried out in defiance of international law”.
The Nigerian air force said technical concerns forced the plane to divert to the nearest airport “in line with standard safety procedures and international aviation protocols”, adding that Burkinabé authorities had treated the crew courteously and plans were under way to continue the mission.
Conspiracy theories spread on social media and offline because the landing occurred within 24 hours of Nigerian troops helping to thwart a coup attempt in Benin, which borders Nigeria and Burkina Faso. The AES trio of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger officially left the larger Ecowas regional bloc in January, forming a military alliance and withdrawing from many traditional local and international allegiances.
