{"id":3129,"date":"2025-12-21T13:42:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T13:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/burkina-frees-nigerian-plane-and-crew"},"modified":"2025-12-22T17:28:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T17:28:49","slug":"burkina-frees-nigerian-plane-and-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/burkina-frees-nigerian-plane-and-crew","title":{"rendered":"Burkina Frees Nigerian Plane and Crew"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ap-summary\" dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<h4>What You Need to Know<\/h4>\n<p>Burkina Faso has released a Nigerian military plane and its eleven crew members after nearly two weeks of detention. The release followed an official apology from Nigeria&#8217;s Foreign Minister, who acknowledged the unauthorized entry of the aircraft into Burkina Faso&#8217;s airspace. The two countries discussed enhancing cooperation to combat security challenges in West Africa during their meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa. <\/strong> <\/span>Burkina Faso&#8217;s authorities have released the Nigerian military aircraft, a C-130, along with its eleven crew members after nearly two weeks of detention following an emergency landing in Bobo Dioulasso on December 8.<\/p>\n<p>This step came after Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar issued a formal apology to transitional President Ibrahim Traore\u0301, confirming that the aircraft entered Burkina Faso&#8217;s airspace without prior permission.<\/p>\n<p>In statements to the press following his meeting with Traore\u0301, the Nigerian minister said, &#8220;We apologize for this unfortunate incident,&#8221; while praising the care provided by the authorities to the crew members during their detention.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the Nigerian minister rejected statements from some politicians in his country who spoke of &#8220;mistreatment&#8221; of the detained soldiers, describing those claims as &#8220;inappropriate comments&#8221; and affirming that his government does not endorse them.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting between the two parties not only addressed the diplomatic crisis but also touched on the issue of combating terrorism in the Sahel region.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian minister commended what he described as the &#8220;tangible successes&#8221; achieved by Burkina Faso in confronting armed groups, while both sides emphasized the need to enhance bilateral and regional cooperation to address security challenges in West Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian military plane was transporting soldiers and military equipment when it was forced to land in Bobo Dioulasso due to unauthorized entry into Burkina Faso&#8217;s airspace. The incident was labeled as an &#8220;unfriendly act&#8221; by the Sahel Alliance, violating international law and civil and military aviation rules. This event occurred shortly after a Nigerian military intervention in Benin, following a failed coup attempt against President Patrice Talon, adding political and regional dimensions to the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What You Need to Know Burkina Faso has released a Nigerian military plane and its eleven crew members after nearly two weeks of detention. The release followed an official apology from Nigeria&#8217;s Foreign Minister, who acknowledged the unauthorized entry of the aircraft into Burkina Faso&#8217;s airspace. The two countries discussed enhancing cooperation to combat security [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120,505,438,136,137,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-3129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-burkina-faso","10":"tag-diplomatic-relations","11":"tag-military","12":"tag-nigeria","13":"tag-terrorism"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Burkina Frees Nigerian Plane and Crew - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Burkina Faso has released a detained Nigerian military plane and its crew after diplomatic negotiations. 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