Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Officials in Burkina Faso released 11 members of the Nigerian military after seizing their cargo aircraft and detaining them for making an emergency landing in Bobo-Dioulasso.
The Nigerian military C-130 aircraft and its crew did not have permission to enter Burkina Faso's airspace when it made the unauthorized landing at the airport serving Burkina Faso's second-largest city on Monday.
Officials with the separatist Association of Sahel States, or AES, on Monday called the incursion an "unfriendly act" but have allowed the two crew members and nine passengers to return to Nigeria, The Guardian reported.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger comprise the AES states, which are aligned with Russia, while others in the region generally are aligned with the West as members of the Economic Community of West African States, according to the BBC.
Related
