Daily Digest Online

Nigerian soldiers who were on board a military aircraft that made a forced landing in Burkina Faso last week remain in the West African country, according to Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar. The incident occurred on Monday, December 8, when the Confederation of Sahel States (AES)—a bloc comprising Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger Republic—accused a Nigerian Air Force C-130 aircraft of violating its airspace. The AES, which has broken away from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), authorized its members to "neutralize" any aircraft violating its territory. Conflicting Narratives and Regional Tensions The aircraft was carrying 11 Nigerian soldiers at the time. The Nigerian Air Force stated the plane was on a "ferry mission to Portugal" and suggested the landing was forced due to a technical issue. However, authorities from the AES, particularly Mali's junta leader Assimi Goita, described t...

ABUJA, Nigeria / BOBO-DIOULASSO, Burkina Faso — Burkina Faso has released the 11 Nigerian military personnel who were detained after their Air Force C-130 transport plane made an unauthorized landing in the West African nation on Monday, concluding a brief but intense standoff that laid bare deep regional fractures. The personnel were cleared to return to Nigeria on Tuesday after Burkinabè authorities completed questioning. Their release came just over 24 hours after the dramatic incident, which saw the Nigerian aircraft forced to land at the airport in Bobo-Dioulasso, a city in southwestern Burkina Faso. Conflicting Accounts of a "Technical" Landing vs. a "Violation" The official explanations for the landing starkly diverged, reflecting the heightened political tensions between Nigeria and a breakaway bloc of military-ruled Sahel nations. *   Nigerian Account: The Nigerian Air Force maintained the aircraft was on a "ferry mission"...