Eshioromeh Sebastian in Abuja
A Nigerian Air Force C130 aircraft was forced to land in Burkina Faso on Monday after entering Burkinabè airspace without authorisation.
The Confederation of Sahel States (AES) has condemned the incident as a serious violation of its airspace and sovereignty.
In an official communiqué issued from Bamako and signed by Mali’s transitional president, General Assimi Goïta, who also chairs the AES, stated that the military transport plane “was forced to land today, 08 December 2025, in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, following an in-flight emergency while operating in Burkinabè airspace.”
The aircraft was carrying two crew members and nine passengers, all of whom were military personnel. An immediate investigation by Burkinabè authorities confirmed that the aircraft “lacked authorisation to overfly Burkinabè territory.”
The Sahel Confederation—comprising Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—condemned the breach “with the greatest firmness,” calling it “an unfriendly act conducted in contempt of international law and international civil and/or military aviation rules.”
In response, the bloc announced that it has placed its air and anti-aircraft defences on “maximum alert” and has authorised them “to neutralise any aircraft that violates confederal airspace.”
This directive was issued under instructions from the AES heads of state, in line with a previous declaration from 22 December 2024.
The communiqué, by the AES stressed that measures have been taken to “guarantee the security of confederal airspace, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its member states, as well as the safety of the populations of the AES Confederation.”
The incident is coming just a day after the Nigerian government helped foiled a coup plot in Benin, a neighbouring West Africa county.
Spear News reports that Burkina Faso is currently under military rule following coups in 2022, led by Transitional President Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power and suspended the constitution, though a transitional charter aims for eventual civilian rule with elections potentially delayed.
The government operates with a Head of State (Traoré) and a Prime Minister (Joachim Kylem De Tambela), but democratic institutions like a parliament have been dissolved, with the military managing the transition amidst significant security challenges from Islamist insurgencies.
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