Doctors have begun clinical trials of an experimental vaccine for malaria in Burkina Faso and say they are encouraged by the initial results. The vaccine could become generally available within five years if it proves successful. Health Ministry officials said the MSP3 vaccine had been developed by the Pasteur Institute in France and was being tested on a group of 30 healthy people aged between 18 and 40.

The government of Burkina Faso has arrested Norbert Tiendrebeogo, leader of the opposition Social Forces Front (FFS) party, in connection with an alleged coup plot. FFS deputy leader Brice Yogo told IRIN that Tiendrebeogo was summoned to the police headquarters for questioning on Monday and was subsequently detained.

Burkina Faso's health minister has said the government hopes to eradicate guinea worm infections in the next five years, having reduced the number of new cases reported each year to less than 200.

Twelve people, most of them soldiers, have been arrested in Burkina Faso since last week allegedly for planning with a foreign country to overthrow the government of President Blaise Campaore, State Prosecutor Abdoulaye Barry told reporters on Tuesday.

Landlocked Burkina Faso has launched a ten-year plan to combat desertification and land erosion through district-focused reforestation programmes that would also help local people generate income from the trees.