- Burkina Faso dismisses HRW report on alleged military killings
- HRW accuses military of mass killings, calls for investigation
- Conflict with armed groups exacerbates violence in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso has stated that a Human Rights Watch report published on February 25 made “baseless accusations” regarding the alleged deaths of at least 223 villagers by soldiers in two attacks.
The military is accused in a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday of executing at least 56 children and residents of Nodin and Soro as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of collaborating with rebel combatants. The report cited by the New York-based organization was compiled via telephone interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and others.
“Such baseless accusations are vehemently rejected and condemned by the government of Burkina Faso,” said Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo in a statement issued late Saturday.
“A legal investigation was initiated in response to the killings at Nodin and Soro,” he stated.
“While this investigation is ongoing to establish the facts and identify the authors, HRW has identified ‘the guilty’ and rendered its verdict with boundless imagination,” the minister was taken aback.
The massacre was characterized by HRW as “among the worst acts of military brutality in Burkina Faso since 2015.”
HRW stated on Thursday, “These mass killings… appear to be an extension of a widespread military campaign against civilians suspected of collaborating with Islamist armed groups; they may constitute crimes against humanity.”
“In order to safeguard its independence and impartiality, Burkinabe authorities should immediately launch a comprehensive investigation into the massacres with the assistance of the African Union and the United Nations,” the statement continued.
“The media campaign orchestrated around these accusations unequivocally demonstrates the unacknowledged intent… to discredit our fighting forces,” according to a Burkina Faso statement.
The statement continued, “All allegations of human rights violations and abuses reported in the course of the fight against terrorism are systematically investigated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the government.”
The decade-long conflict with armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) has exacerbated the violence in the region, which has continued from 2020 to 2023 when the respective militaries usurped power in Burkina Faso, neighboring Mali, and Niger through a succession of coups.
Burkina Faso experienced a significant escalation in lethal attacks in 2023, with the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a crisis monitoring organization based in the United States, reporting that over 8,000 people were purportedly killed.
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