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"...

BOBO DIOULASSO, Burkina Faso — In a dramatic military standoff that has sent shockwaves across West Africa, the Confederation of the Sahel States (AES) forced a Nigerian Air Force aircraft carrying 11 soldiers to land in Burkina Faso on Monday, condemning the flight as an "unfriendly act" and a violation of its airspace. The incident, which saw the powerful Alliance of Sahel States—comprising the military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—place its air defenses on "maximum alert" with orders to "neutralize any aircraft" violating its airspace, marks a dangerous new low in regional relations. It comes against a backdrop of deep political fractures and a shared, spiraling security crisis that neither side has been able to contain. The Incident and Its Aftermath According to an official communique from the AES, a Nigerian Air Force C-130 transport plane was "forced to land" on December 8, 2025, at the airport in Bobo-D...

COTONOU, Benin — In the early hours of Sunday, December 7, 2025, soldiers appeared on state television in Benin to announce the dissolution of the government, the latest tremor in a region shaken by military takeovers. While government forces moved to assert control, the brief broadcast from the self-proclaimed "Military Committee for Refoundation" underscored a stark reality: West Africa, once a beacon of democratic progress, is now widely described as the world's "coup belt". The attempt in Benin—a nation celebrated for its political stability and where President Patrice Talon was preparing to respect term limits—marks a troubling expansion of this crisis. It follows the ninth successful coup in West and Central Africa since 2020, with soldiers seizing power just last month in Guinea-Bissau. This new wave of military interventions, often met with public celebration, represents not a sudden collapse but the culmination of deep-seated fa...