BURKINA FASO ARMY EXECUTED MORE THAN 200 CIVILIANS IN “COUNTERINSURGENCY OPERATIONS” RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

Thu 25 April 2024:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has stated in a new study that 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, were “summarily executed” by Burkina Faso’s military forces in two villages in February.

According to the investigation released on Thursday, the mass murders occurred in the northern villages of Nondin and Soro on February 25.

According to the international rights organization, the massacre seemed to be a part of a larger military operation against civilians who were thought to be working with armed groups.

At least 44 people, including 20 children, were killed by soldiers in Nondin, and another 179 people, including 36 children, were killed in nearby Soro.

HRW said it interviewed dozens of witnesses between February and March and analysed videos and photographs shared by survivors. It also reportedly obtained lists of the victims’ names compiled by survivors, and geolocated eight mass graves based on satellite imagery from March 15.

On February 24 and 25, armed groups carried out attacks across the country on military targets, including barracks and bases, and on civilian infrastructure, such as religious sites, killing scores of civilians, soldiers and militia members.

While Defence Minister Mahamoudou Sana denounced what he described as “simultaneous and coordinated” attacks, he did not mention the mass killings of civilians in Nondin and Soro.

Civilians have been caught in the middle of and displaced by the fighting between armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), and security forces.

Nondin and Soro are believed to be among the many villages within Burkina Faso’s Thiou district that have been besieged by al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the report said.

“The massacres in Nondin and Soro villages are just the latest mass killings of civilians by the Burkina Faso military in their counterinsurgency operations,” said Tirana Hassan, HRW’s executive director.

“The repeated failure of the Burkinabe authorities to prevent and investigate such atrocities underlines why international assistance is critical to support a credible investigation into possible crimes against humanity,” Hassan said, as HRW called on the United Nations and African Union to support an investigation by Burkinabe authorities.

Fighting between armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) and security forces has forced civilians to flee and become displaced.

About half of the country is outside government control. The violence has killed almost 20,000 people and displaced more than two million.

The West African country is ruled by a military administration led by captain Ibrahim Traore, who took power in a coup in September 2022, eight months after a previous military coup deposed democratically elected President Roch Marc Kabore.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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