“The attackers were shooting everywhere randomly, I saw dozens of bodies.” In its report, the Human Rights Watch organization shares horrific testimonies, such as that of this woman, a survivor of an attack in May that left at least 80 dead and nearly 40 injured in a camp for displaced people in Goubré (north).
In Niamana, in the far west, a resident says: “We are caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, the authorities are pushing us to return to villages where security is not guaranteed, and on the other, the jihadists are attacking us when we return to our fields and homes.” Questioned by HRW on the allegations of forced returns, Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said that the return of displaced people is voluntary and “preceded by actions to secure localities and reopen basic social services.”
According to the NGO, jihadist armed groups in Burkina Faso have intensified their attacks on civilians in recent months, “massacring villagers, displaced persons and Christian worshipers”. “Door-to-door” executions, throat-slitting, dismembered bodies, women raped… More than 26,000 people have been killed – soldiers, militia and civilians combined – in Burkina Faso since the start of the conflict in 2016, according to the organization Acled, which lists the victims of conflicts around the world.
In the first eight months of the year alone, Acled counts “more than 6,000” deaths, including around 1,000 civilians killed by “Islamist armed groups”. HRW specifies that “these figures do not include the 100 to 400 civilians killed during the attack of August 24” in Barsalogho, in the center of the country.