Burkina Faso’s military government said Wednesday it had foiled a coup attempt the previous day, almost a year after the country’s leader came to power in a coup himself. In a statement read out on state television, it said “a proven coup attempt was foiled on September 26, 2023 by Burkina Faso’s intelligence and security services. “At present, officers and other alleged participants in this destabilisation attempt have been arrested and others are being actively sought”. It said the alleged perpetrators “had the sinister intention of attacking the institutions of the Republic and plunging the country into chaos”. Junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power on September 30, 2022, in the landlocked country’s second coup in eight months. The two takeovers were each triggered in part by discontent at failures to stem a raging jihadist insurgency.