Armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have drastically increased their attacks on civilians in Burkina Faso, leading to a surge in violence and human rights violations, Al Jazeera reports, citing a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The report details the deaths of at least 128 civilians in seven separate attacks carried out by “armed groups” across the country since February 2024. HRW states that these attacks constitute war crimes and violate international humanitarian law.
The report outlines the brutality of these groups, accusing them of “massacring villagers, displaced people, and Christian worshippers.” Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at HRW, described the situation as “incredibly concerning” and urged the leaders of the armed groups to end their “deadly attacks.”
Burkina Faso, led by the military government of Ibrahim Traore, has been struggling with an armed rebellion since 2016, when the ISIL affiliate in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and the al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) moved into the country from neighboring Mali.
In an attempt to combat the escalating violence, Traore has sought to mobilize civilians, recruiting thousands of volunteer army auxiliaries and forcing them to dig defensive trenches.
HRW’s report includes chilling witness accounts of gruesome atrocities. One incident detailed was an ISGS-claimed attack on a church in the village of Essakane, near the Niger border, in February. The attack, believed to be a retaliatory act against Christians who refused to convert, resulted in the deaths of at least 12 people.
JNIM has been implicated in six other attacks documented by HRW, including a June assault on an army base near Niger that killed 107 soldiers and at least 20 civilians.
Another attack, carried out by JNIM in late August on civilians digging trenches around the town of Barsalogho, reportedly resulted in the deaths of up to 400 people.
The report cites data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, which estimates that over 26,000 people, including soldiers, militia members, and civilians, have been killed in Burkina Faso since 2016.
This alarming escalation of violence demands urgent action from the international community to address the humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso and bring an end to the suffering of its people.
