Burkina Faso’s military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, confirmed the arrest of six Ivorian employees at the end of August, accusing them of crossing the border “illegally” and engaging in activities he described as “espionage.” The move is likely to further heighten tensions with Côte d’Ivoire.
In an interview aired on state television on Sunday, September 28, 2025, Traoré said that members of auxiliary forces supporting the army detained the six employees of Côte d’Ivoire’s Directorate for Refugees and Stateless Persons after they “crossed the border” into Burkinabè territory.
“Anyone who crosses the border and engages in this kind of activity is committing espionage. It is natural that they should be arrested and investigated,” he said.
Ivorian media had earlier accused Burkinabè forces of kidnapping the employees while they were on a mission to assess the situation of refugees near the northeastern border, before transferring them to the capital, Ouagadougou.
Traoré, however, recalled that this was not the first time Ivorians had been arrested in his country, pointing to the detention of Ivorian guards in September 2023 and June 2025 before they were eventually released.
Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire share a border stretching about 600 kilometers, described as “fragile and poorly demarcated,” which has frequently been the scene of reciprocal arrests.
Ouagadougou accuses its southern neighbor of attempting to “destabilize” the country, while Côte d’Ivoire denies the allegations, responding by citing the arrest of its citizens inside Burkinabè territory.
Tensions between the two countries also deepened after the death of Burkinabè influencer Alain Christophe Traoré, known as Alino Faso, in July while in custody at a gendarmerie school in Abidjan on charges of “collaboration with a foreign state.”
His death sparked outrage in Burkina Faso, where large crowds turned out to receive his body.