Burkina Faso Gives Lengthy Prison Sentences to Coup Plotters

(Bloomberg) -- A military court in Burkina Faso handed lengthy prison sentences to a general who led a short-lived 2015 coup and a former foreign minister found guilty of being one of his accomplices.

The two men - general Gilbert Diendere and Djibril Bassole - were top aides of former President Blaise Compaore, who ruled for 27 years until he was ousted in a popular revolt in 2014 and fled to neighboring Ivory Coast. The trial that spanned about 18 months unfolded as the army battled a surge of Islamist militant attacks in several border regions, with the government blaming Compaore and those loyal to him for stoking the insecurity.

Diendere, a former chief of the powerful presidential guard, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Bassole got 10 years for treason. Diendere briefly seized power in 2015 before stepping down under pressure from the army and regional leaders and has since described the coup as “a mistake.” Sixteen others were also jailed.

Burkina Faso said last month that the number of internally displaced people has tripled this year and that an estimated 300,000 children don’t have access to education since militants forced the closing of schools in the most affected regions.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Gongo in Ouagadougou at sgongo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Alastair Reed

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