Jihadist unrest in the Sahel region of West Africa has expanded to Burkina Faso’s north.
Militants killed 55 people on the weekend in northern Burkino Faso in an upheaval caused allegedly by Islamic extremists, on the weekend.
At a news conference, government spokesman Wendkouni Joel Lionel Bilgo claimed suspected militants targeted civilians in Seytenga, Seno province. While the government claims the official death toll is 55, media estimates it to be much higher. Al-Qaida and Islamic State-linked attacks are on the rise in Burkina Faso, particularly in the north. In a June 2021 attack in the town of Solhan, jihadists killed at least 160 people.
Who is responsible?
The mutinous military deposed the democratically elected president in January, pledging to secure the country, but unrest has only escalated since then. In the war against the insurgents, the administration is urging citizens to stick together.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the weekend incident, conflict specialists believe it was most likely carried out by the Islamic State.
Story behind the North Burkino Faso
Burkina Faso has long been spared by the Sahel’s armed groups, but it is now facing more frequent and devastating attacks in the north. Despite the fact that the insecurity is mostly a result of the Malian conflict, the problem has strong local characteristics. Ansarul Islam, the group behind much of the violence, is first and foremost a movement attacking the dominant social order in Soum province, Burkina Faso’s Sahel area. It is frequently described as linked to jihadists elsewhere in the Sahel. In the spring of 2017, military actions reasserted the state’s power, but the situation is far from ended. Ouagadougou and its international partners recognise that military offensives are insufficient, and that a final resolution of the crisis is dependent in part on the situation in Mali.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, armed Islamist groups and government security personnel are increasingly attacking civilians in Burkina Faso. Millions of people have been displaced as a result of the fighting, which has led to a rise in armed group recruitment. According to the article, the growing atrocities involve extensive deaths, rapes, and looting. Since its inception in 2016, the conflict has destabilized practically the entire Sahel region.
Burkina Faso, on the other hand, has witnessed the worst of the violence, and the situation is deteriorating. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project reports about 600 people were killed between January and April this year, more than treble the amount killed in the same period in 2021.
