Friday, July 25, 2025
LBNN
  • Business
  • Markets
  • Politics
  • Crypto
  • Finance
  • Energy
  • Technology
  • Taxes
  • Creator Economy
  • Wealth Management
  • Documentaries
No Result
View All Result
LBNN

Burkinabe Soldiers Implicated in Massacre

Simon Osuji by Simon Osuji
May 15, 2024
in Military & Defense
0
Burkinabe Soldiers Implicated in Massacre
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


ADF STAFF

Related posts

‘Innovation Corps’ tech execs are in training, but don’t have assignments yet

‘Innovation Corps’ tech execs are in training, but don’t have assignments yet

July 25, 2025
‘Unwilling or incapable’: Defense Department stands up moving task force after contractor failure

‘Unwilling or incapable’: Defense Department stands up moving task force after contractor failure

July 24, 2025

More than 100 Burkinabe soldiers on motorbikes, in pickup trucks and at least two armored cars entered the village of Nondin in the country’s northern Yatenga province between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on February 25.

The soldiers systematically ordered people out of their homes and told them to show their identity cards. They are accused of then opening fire on villagers they had rounded up into groups. By the time they left, 44 civilians, including 20 children, were dead, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.

About an hour later, the soldiers entered the nearby village of Soro, where they are accused of slaughtering 179 people, including 36 children.

“They separated men and women in groups,” a 48-year-old farmer from Soro told HRW. “I was in the garden with other people when they [soldiers] called us. As we started moving forward, they opened fire on us indiscriminately. I ran behind a tree, and this saved my life.”

Some survivors said they believed the attacks were in response to terror attacks on security forces.

Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina, the national television network operated by the military-run government, reported “a major attack” by insurgents on a military base in Ouahigouya, near the Mali border, about 7 a.m. that morning. The network said a special forces unit chased the fleeing rebels but did not report any civilian casualties.

Witnesses told HRW that armed terrorists had passed through Nondin earlier that morning.

“Before the soldiers started shooting at us, they accused us of being complicit with the jihadists [Islamist fighters],” a 32-year-old woman survivor from Soro, who was shot in the leg, told HRW. “They said we do not cooperate with them [the army] because we did not inform them about the jihadists’ movements.”

The HRW report was based on interviews with 14 witnesses to the killings, three local civil society activists and three members of international organizations. It also obtained lists of the victims’ names compiled by survivors and geolocated eight mass graves using satellite imagery.

The ruling junta led by Capt. Ibrahim Traoré said the HRW report was “baseless” and subsequently banned international and regional media outlets that reported on its investigation.

Military attacks on Burkinabe civilians, including those committed with the help of self-defense militias aligned with the government and Russian mercenaries, are common and rarely accounted for.

In November 2023,  security forces killed about 70 to more than 200 civilians in Zaongo in Burkina Faso’s Centre-North region, according to reports from survivors, the United Nations and aid groups.

“The Burkinabe army has repeatedly committed mass atrocities against civilians in the name of fighting terrorism with almost no one held to account,” HRW Executive Director

Tirana Hassan said in the report. “Victims, survivors and their families are entitled to see those responsible for grave abuses brought to justice. Support from [African Union] or UN investigators and legal experts is the best way to ensure credible investigations and fair trials.”

Countering terror groups linked to the Islamic State group and al-Qaida was the rationale behind two military coups in Burkina Faso in 2022. However, the number of killings by terror groups tripled in the first 18 months after Burkina Faso’s January 2022 coup, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

Surging violence in 2023 accounted for the deaths of 8,000 people, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project reported.

Rebel groups control more than one-third of the country, and about 500,000 people in dozens of rural towns and villages are now under siege. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, aid from international nongovernmental organizations has reached only 1% of civilians in half of the blockaded areas.

The post Burkinabe Soldiers Implicated in Massacre appeared first on Africa Defense Forum.



Source link

Previous Post

Using AI to improve building energy use and comfort

Next Post

European Countries Seeking to Join Alliance in 2024

Next Post
European Countries Seeking to Join Alliance in 2024

European Countries Seeking to Join Alliance in 2024

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED NEWS

Dangote details his battle against the ‘oil mafia’ as he notes that he never loses

Dangote details his battle against the ‘oil mafia’ as he notes that he never loses

5 months ago
Top 10 countries with the cheapest militaries in 2025

Top 10 countries with the cheapest militaries in 2025

5 months ago
CAES to Supply Precision Sensor for US Army’s Long-Range Precision Fires

CAES to Supply Precision Sensor for US Army’s Long-Range Precision Fires

1 year ago
Conclusion of the first edition of the “Al Ain Tourism and Investment Forum” with fruitful partnerships

Conclusion of the first edition of the “Al Ain Tourism and Investment Forum” with fruitful partnerships

10 months ago

POPULAR NEWS

  • Ghana to build three oil refineries, five petrochemical plants in energy sector overhaul

    Ghana to build three oil refineries, five petrochemical plants in energy sector overhaul

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • When Will SHIB Reach $1? Here’s What ChatGPT Says

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The world’s top 10 most valuable car brands in 2025

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Top 10 African countries with the highest GDP per capita in 2025

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Tanzania’s natural gas sector goes global with Dubai deal

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 LBNN - All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Markets
  • Crypto
  • Economics
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate
    • Infrastructure
  • Finance
  • Energy
  • Creator Economy
  • Wealth Management
  • Taxes
  • Telecoms
  • Military & Defense
  • Careers
  • Technology
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Investigative journalism
  • Art & Culture
  • Documentaries
  • Quizzes
    • Enneagram quiz
  • Newsletters
    • LBNN Newsletter
    • Divergent Capitalist

© 2023 LBNN - All rights reserved.