Burkina Faso Military Council is arrested by Inso employees on charges of “espionage”

Burkina Faso’s military government has arrested eight members of a Netherlands -based humanitarian organization, accusing them of “espionage and betrayal.”

They are three Europeans, Mali, and four from Burkina Faso – among them the Qatari director of the NGO and his deputy. The organization said they had arrested a while ago, but this had not been announced before.

Security Minister Muhammadu SANA said that the non -governmental organization “has collected and transferred sensitive security information that could harm national security and Burkina Faso’s interests to foreign powers.”

The International Organization for NGOs (INSO), which provides safety information information, denied these allegations “categorically”.

Anthony Neil, representative of the NGO of the BBC, said its director in Burkina Faso has been detained since July when the organization was suspended. The other seven were arrested at a later time.

He added: “We continue to work to release them safely and immediately.”

The authorities had suspended the NGO on July 31 for a period of three months on charges of “collecting sensitive data without permission.” It has been working in the country since 2019.

The Minister of Security said on Tuesday that despite its ban, the members of the organization continued to collect information secretly and hold the meetings.

Mr. Neil denied this claim, saying that his information collection activities stopped on July 31, but his employees remained in Burkina Faso to deal with detention and fulfill his contractual obligations.

A statement by the organization stressed that the information that it collects is not secret and what was meant by the safety of the humanitarian workers.

He added that the Burkinabe authorities “are completely aware” of their work and mandate, and were cooperating with it.

Mr. Neil said he tried to communicate with the government to address any misunderstanding or concerns. He said that safety information is very important, as a “record” number of relief workers was killed this year all over the world.

The military government in Burkina Faso, led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, has seized power in a coup three years ago, and its relations have been lukewarm with Western countries since then.

In response to the exacerbation of the Islamic rebellion, the Military Council stopped working with the former colonial force, France, and instead resorted to Russia to obtain military assistance.

Since then, human rights groups have accused the army of violations against civilians while dealing with the militants, as well as the suppression of political opposition and freedom of expression.