Burkina Faso Junta Arrests Eight INSO Staff on Espionage

Burkina Faso’s ruling junta has arrested eight employees of the International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO), including two French nationals, a Czech national, a Malian and four Burkinabe staff, and said they will be brought before a prosecutor. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana accused the group of secretly collecting sensitive military information — operation zones, convoy routes, troop numbers and death tolls — and of continuing activity after a government suspension at the end of July. INSO and its country representative Anthony Neal deny the spying allegations, saying the information they collect is non‑confidential safety data used to protect aid workers, that they halted information gathering after the July 31 suspension, and that they have cooperated with authorities. The NGO says its country director has been detained since late July and that it is working to secure the safe release of its staff. The arrests come amid a worsening jihadist insurgency, the junta’s pivot from France toward Russian security partners, and accusations from rights groups of abuses and repression.