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An investigation was opened on Monday in Burkina Faso after the discovery of the bodies of 28 people in Nouna, in the northwest of the country. According to a human rights organization, this massacre was perpetrated by Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), army auxiliaries whose military junta wants to strengthen the workforce to fight against jihadist violence.
Civilians continue to pay a heavy price in Burkina Faso : army auxiliaries have been accused of killing 28 people in the north-west on New Year’s Eve, a massacre which raises fears of a cycle of reprisals between communities in this country scarred by jihadist violence since 2015.
The government announced, Monday, January 2, to have “been informed of a tragedy that occurred in Nouna, capital of the province of Kossi, on the night of December 30 to 31”, specifying that the first information “shows 28 people killed”.
The Collective against Impunity and the stigmatization of communities (CISC), a human rights organization, denounced “exactions” committed by Volunteers for the defense of the fatherland (VDP), army auxiliaries.
The government indicated that an investigation had been opened “to elucidate the circumstances of the tragedy and to place all the responsibilities” and called “the whole population to calm” while waiting for “full light” to be shed “on these unacceptable violence”.
A statement from Nouna’s prosecutor, Armel Sama, said “most of the victims, all male, were shot and killed”.
“This tragedy is happening at a time when Burkina Faso has launched an operation to mobilize all the people for unity of action in the fight against terrorism,” noted government spokesman Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo. .
Burkina Faso has been facing increasing attacks from jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization since 2015. They caused thousands of deaths and at least two million displaced persons and are partly the cause of two military coups in 2022.
The power resulting from the last putsch of September 30, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, launched, at the end of 2022, a campaign to recruit new auxiliaries to help the army in its fight against the jihadists. Out of an estimated need of 50,000, 90,000 people have registered.
The government recalled that it was “fundamentally opposed to all forms of abuse or violation of human rights for any reason whatsoever”.
The stigmatized Fulani minority
According to the CISC, “armed civilians claiming to be” VDP “freely engage in organized looting and targeted abuses against civilian populations on a background of racial profiling and stigmatization”.
On Saturday, “following a terrorist attack allegedly suffered by the VDP headquarters in Nouna (…) armed Dozos (traditional hunters), identified by the victims as being VDPs, carried out murderous actions in retaliation “.
According to the secretary general of the CISC, Daouda Diallo, this situation “deserves particular attention”, because “armed terrorist groups surf on these types of excesses within the populations in order to ensure their recruitment”.
Cases of extrajudicial executions are increasingly reported by the populations of several regions of Burkina, says the CISC.
On December 22, VDPs abducted and executed men in Marmisga (north) while on December 18, other alleged VDPs abducted and executed a father and his son in Kongoussi, in the Centre-Nord region.
On December 15, five people were abducted and killed by people identified as Dozos in Lorépeni, Southwest region, according to the CISC.
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These abuses are reminiscent of those committed four years ago, on January 1, 2019 in Yirgou, in the Center-North region: the assassination of a leader of the Mossi ethnic group and his relatives had led to reprisals by members of a self-defense group against the Fulani community, killing 49 according to an official report, more than 200, according to NGOs.
Last August, the previous military power strongly condemned and warned against calls for “ethnic cleansing” targeting the country’s Fulani minority: some of its members having joined jihadist groups, the amalgamation between them and the ” terrorists” is regularly established, which inflames tensions between communities.
The VDPs currently receive 14 days of civic and military training before being armed and equipped with means of communication. They are paying a heavy price in the attacks of the jihadists who control 40% of Burkinabe territory.
With AFP