- HRW accuses Burkina Faso military of civilian massacre
- 223 civilians, including 56 children, reportedly killed
- HRW demands UN, AU assistance for investigation
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has issued the allegation and demanded that the African Union and the United Nations provide investigators and assist local efforts to apprehend the perpetrators.
In assaults on two villages, Burkina Faso military forces have been accused of massacring 223 civilians, including infants.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that the mass killings purportedly occurred in the northern region of the impoverished West African country on February 25.
According to a new report published by the human rights organization, which compiled witness statements and verified photographs and videos of the assaults, approximately 56 children were among the deceased.
According to survivors and witnesses who spoke with HRW, the murders were likely committed in retaliation for an Islamist fighters’ assault on a military camp located 15 miles away from Ouahigouya.
An individual representing the military junta of the nation, which has been contending with an expanding jihadi insurgency, declined to provide statements in response to inquiries from the Associated Press (AP) regarding the assault.
Officials have previously denied that jihadi fighters murder civilians and assert that they frequently pose as soldiers.
A once-peaceful Burkina Faso has been engulfed in a conflict involving state-backed forces and jihadis affiliated with al Qaeda and the Islamic State in recent years.
Both factions have faced allegations of targeting innocent civilians entangled in the conflict, resulting in the displacement of over two million individuals, more than half of whom are children.
In 2022, the nation underwent two coups, culminating in the military junta assuming authority in September of that year. President Ibrahim Traore, the individual credited with orchestrating the revolution, presently holds office.
“International aid is absolutely vital”
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has issued a demand for the African Union and the United Nations to furnish investigators and extend assistance to local initiatives aimed at apprehending the perpetrators of the February 25 attacks.
The human rights organization reports that the murders occurred in the Yatenga province villages of Nondin and Soro, Thiou district.
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The massacres in the villages of Nondin and Soro are merely the most recent civilian mass murders committed by the Burkina Faso military during counterinsurgency operations, according to Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
It is essential to have international support to conduct a credible investigation into potential offenses against humanity.
As of nine years ago, when jihadi violence first struck the West African nation of Burkina Faso, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an American non-profit organization, estimates that over 20,000 people have been slain.
Approximately fifty percent of Burkina Faso’s landmass continues to be non-governmental.
After years of ineffective Western military assistance, the junta has shifted its focus to Russia to secure additional support.
