Forty-four civilians were killed by armed terrorist groups in two villages in the landlocked African nation of Burkina Faso. The killings occurred in the country’s arid northeast, near the Niger border. The killings targeted people in the villages of Kourakou and Tondobi overnight on Thursday. 31 people were killed in Kourakou and 13 in Tondobi.
The impoverished nation of Burkina Faso is trying to cope with a seven-year-old campaign by jihadists linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State. A resident of Kourakou said “a large number of terrorists burst into the village” late on Thursday. “All night long, we heard gunfire. It was on Friday morning that we saw that there were several dozen dead.”
Locals said the village had been targeted in retaliation for the lynching of two jihadists a few days earlier who had tried to steal cattle.
It was one of the deadliest attacks under Burkina Faso’s current government. Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power in a coup six months ago.
Two months ago, 51 soldiers were killed in an attack on Deou, in the far north of the country.
The killings occurred close to the village of Seytenga, where 86 civilians were killed last June in one of the most savage attacks of a long-running insurgency.
Burkina Faso’s new military chief this week vowed to wage a “dynamic offensive” against jihadists following a string of insurgent attacks this year.
“The dynamic offensive under way in the past few weeks will be stepped up to force armed groups to lay down their weapons,” said Colonel Célestin Simporé, who was appointed last week.
Since the jihadists launched their campaign from the neighbouring country of Mali seven years ago, more than 10,000 civilians have been killed, and at least 2 million people have become refugees in their own country.
Official figures say jihadists effectively control about 40% of the country.
Discontent about military setbacks and a perceived inadequate government response led to two successive military coups last year. Traoré, who came to power in September, has vowed to fight back and recover conquered territory.
But most of his words are just talk. He has been no more successful at fighting the insurgents than the democratically-elected president who was removed by the first of last year’s coups.
The jihadists have carried out a series of raids and ambushes this year, taking a heavy toll on civilians and even convoys with military escorts.
Burkina Faso’s army has recently purchased foreign-made drones, and regularly releases video footage of strikes against purported terrorists as part of propaganda that falsely claims the military is reconquering and securing lost territory.
While the new military regime has been unable to eradicate the terrorist insurgents, it has cracked down on civilian institutions. Since Traoré seized power in September, the activities of all political parties and civic groups have been suspended.
Historically, Burkina Faso was less corrupt, ethnically-divided, and anti-business than neighboring Mali, and a better business environment than neighboring Niger. But the terrorist insurgency has inflicted great harm on the impoverished country’s economy. And mother nature is crueler to it than neighboring countries that have access to more water or minerals, enabling them to be no poorer than it despite being governed worse (like Mali, which has been governed much worse than Burkina Faso for much of its existence, but has a similar per capita income).
