In northern Burkina Faso, around 170 civilians were “executed” in “mass murderous attacks” on three villages last week. The AFP news agency reported this on Sunday based on reports from a public prosecutor in the region. It is still unclear who was responsible for the murders. The prosecutor writes that “given the seriousness and circumstances of all these charges and information”, he has instructed the police to start an investigation. Dozens of young children are also believed to be among the victims.
Since 2022, the government of Burkina Faso has been in the hands of a junta that says it wants to defend citizens against jihadist movements. It is possible that the same jihadist groups, linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State, were responsible for last week’s massive attack.
Jihadists not defeated
According to the Global Terrorism Index 43 percent of all terrorist deaths in the world will occur in the Sahel region in 2022. In 2007 this was still 1 percent. The advancing violence has been used by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the junta’s leader, as a primary defense for his coup: if the army is in control, the jihadists could be defeated. That image has proven to be more propaganda than truth in recent years.
Early this week, Interior Minister Mahamadou Sana admitted on national television that “over the past weekend we suffered several coordinated and simultaneous attacks on the national territory.” According to Sana, last week’s devastating attack follows successful government actions against “terrorist bases and training camps”, as well as operations against the groups’ supply lines.
In recent years, the junta has consistently denied responsibility for violent incidents like last week’s. In some cases it even seems as if government army soldiers themselves caused massacres among the civilian population.