ABIDJAN, April 22, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Burkina Faso's military junta claimed Monday to have foiled a "major plot in the making" aimed at "sowing total chaos", saying it believed the masterminds were in neighbouring Ivory Coast.

Burkina Faso has been run since September 2022 by military leaders following a coup headed by Captain Ibrahim Traore, who has often blamed Ivory Coast for harbouring his opponents.

Traore promised to restore security but his government has regularly silenced dissenters, and the country has seen an upsurge in kidnappings and extrajudicial arrests, particularly of civilians considered hostile to the junta.

"The meticulous work of the intelligence service (has) revealed a major plot being prepared against our country, the ultimate aim of which is to sow total chaos", Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said in a statement read out on national television.

"The manoeuvre was to culminate, according to the terrorist plotters' plan, on Wednesday April 16, 2025 in an assault on the presidency of (Burkina) Faso by a group of soldiers recruited by the nation's enemies," he said.

"The brains outside the country are all located in Ivory Coast", he added, naming in particular two former army officers, Major Joanny Compaore and Lieutenant Abdramane Barry.

A dozen military personnel, including two officers, were arrested last week after being accused by supporters of the junta of planning to "destabilise" the government, security sources told AFP on Monday.

Since 2015 Burkina Faso has been plagued by jihadist violence from groups linked to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda.

Traore claimed last year that Ivory Coast was a "centre of operations" to destabilise Burkina.