Burkina Faso 'unnecessarily endangered' civilians during the jihadist attack, HRW says

Burkina FasoThe United Nations government needlessly exposed civilians to danger during a militant attack earlier this year, Human Rights Watch said. a report released Tuesday.

In August, at least 100 villagers were killed by fighters from a militant group linked to al-Qaeda in central Burkina Faso, in one of the deadliest attacks this year in the conflict-wracked West African country.

Villagers in the municipality of Barsalogho, 80 kilometers from the capital OuagadougouSecurity forces forcibly helped dig trenches to protect security posts and villages when fighters from the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin group entered the area and opened fire on them, the report said.

The JNIM group, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said in its response to the report that all the targeted villagers were members of militias linked to Burkina Faso.

Human Rights Watch said it confirmed through video analysis and witness statements that at least 133 people were killed, including dozens of children, and at least another 200 people were injured.

“The massacre in Barsalogho is the latest example of atrocities by Islamist armed groups against civilians that the government has unnecessarily endangered,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch, the report said.

About half of Burkina Faso is outside government control as the country is ravaged by increasing militant attacks surrounding the capital. The militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State have killed thousands of people and displaced more than two million.

The violence has contributed to two coups in 2022 military junta which promised to end the attacks has struggled to do so, even after seeking new security partnerships Russia And other junta-led, conflict-affected countries in the African Sahel region.

That of the government dependence on armed civilian aid organizationsThe fight against militants known as Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) is putting civilians in grave danger, Allegrozzi told The Associated Press, as many are being targeted by jihadists who accuse them of being supporters or even members of the VDP. are.

Witnesses quoted in the report say Burkina Faso’s military forced male residents to dig a new section of trenches near the village without paying for it, but many refused for fear they would be exposed to attacks. But soldiers forced them to do the work by threatening and beating them.

The country’s Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said in his response to Human Rights Watch that forced labor is prohibited by law in Burkina Faso and that “testimonies according to which the army forced the population to dig the trenches have not been proven.”

(AP)