Five Ivorian Soldiers detained by Burkina Faso’s Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP) have returned to Abidjan after a week in custody.
They were arrested on June 21, 2025, during a patrol at a gold mining site in Kalamon, a volatile Ivorian border town near Doropo, just two kilometers from the Burkinabe frontier.
The gendarmes were taken into Burkina Faso and later transferred to Ouagadougou, escalating already fragile tensions between the two nations.
The Ivorian government condemned the arrest as a violation of its sovereignty and called for the immediate release of the officers.
This incident reflects ongoing strain along the Ivorian-Burkinabe border, where illegal gold mining, armed groups, and security operations frequently clash.
Côte d’Ivoire currently shelters over 80,000 Burkinabe refugees amid Burkina Faso’s struggle against jihadist threats.
A similar incident in 2023 saw two Ivorian gendarmes detained for over a year before their release was brokered through regional mediation.
