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Burkina Faso 11 employees were released on Wednesday nigerian Nigeria’s foreign minister said the airman was detained on December 8 after his plane made an emergency landing.
“Through sustained dialogue, we also resolved the matter concerning the Nigerian Air Force pilots and crew, reaffirming the effectiveness of diplomacy in addressing sensitive issues,” Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said in a statement on Thursday.
Burkina Faso’s military regime led by Ibrahim Traoré released the personnel after meeting with a Nigerian delegation led by Tuggar, the statement said.
Officials said the personnel included two flight crew members and nine passengers.
“The cases have been resolved, he is no longer detained,” Tughar’s spokesman Alqasim Abdulkadir told The Associated Press.
Abdulkadir said Nigeria and Burkina Faso agreed to hold regular consultations and take steps to deepen bilateral cooperation and regional integration.
The Nigerian Air Force said last week that the plane was headed towards portugal When it made an emergency landing in western Burkina Faso for scheduled maintenance. The Air Force said the landing was carried out as per international guidelines and standard safety procedures.
The emergency landing prompted the Alliance of Sahel States to put its air and anti-air defenses on maximum alert, with the authority to “neutralize any aircraft that violates the confederation’s airspace,” according to a statement by General Assimi Goita, leader of Mali’s military junta. The alliance includes Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
Nigerian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kimibi Abianfa said on Thursday that the crew would now take the plane to Portugal for scheduled maintenance.
The emergency landing came at a time when relations were strained between the Alliance of Sahel States and Nigeria, which was involved in the intervention effort that helped reverse a short-lived coup earlier this month. beninWhere the Nigerian Air Force carried out air strikes targeting the coup plotters. Burkina Faso is on the northwestern border of Benin and Nigeria is on the eastern border of Benin.
Nigeria is one of the 15 members of the Economic Community of West African States, a regional bloc of West African states. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger formed the Sahel Coalition after withdrawing from ECOWAS, which the coalition has accused of inhumane, coup-related sanctions and working against the interests of civilians in the coalition countries.