Unauthorised touchdown comes less than 24 hours after Nigerian forces intervened in attempted coup in Benin
Eleven Nigerian military personnel are being held in Burkina Faso after a Nigerian plane reportedly entered Burkinabé airspace without authorisation on Monday, the latest twist in a region enmeshed in multiple political and security crises.
In a statement on Monday evening, the breakaway Alliance of Sahel States (AES), of which Burkina Faso is a member alongside Mali and Niger, said the C-130 transport aircraft had made an emergency landing in Bobo Dioulasso.
In the statement, Assimi Goita, the Malian junta president and leader of the AES, called the landing an “unfriendly act carried out in defiance of international law”. He directed the authorities in the member countries to act “to neutralise any aircraft that would violate the confederal space” in future.
On Monday, Nigerian authorities said the aircraft had been en route to Portugal for a ferry mission before “a technical concern which necessitated a precautionary landing”.
