Massacre in Burkina Faso left 600 dead, says French report

About 600 people were shot dead in a matter of hours by al Qaeda-linked militants in an August attack on a town in Burkina Faso, according to a French government security assessment that nearly doubles the death toll cited in previous reports. . The new toll would make the attack, in which civilians were shot dead while digging trenches to defend the remote town of Barsalogho, one of the deadliest single attacks on the African continent in recent decades.

Militants from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al Qaeda affiliate based in Mali and active in Burkina Faso, methodically opened fire as they stormed the outskirts of Barsalogho on motorbikes, leaving residents dead in a freshly dug trench. -revolved, according to several videos of the August 24 attack posted by pro-JNIM accounts on social media. Many of those killed were women and children, and the footage is punctuated by the sound of automatic gunfire and victims’ screams as they are shot while apparently trying to play dead.

The horrific death toll, if the French government’s estimate is confirmed, would mark an unusually brutal moment in the Sahel, an increasingly lawless region of West Africa south of the Sahara where security projects led by the U.S. military and French people have struggled to slow down the march of the jihadists. A series of coups d’état in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger led to the departure of French and American forces.

Russian mercenaries called in by the junta to reinforce its control have instead left a vacuum in which jihadists have thrived, the assessment says. to CNN by a French security officer.

The United Nations initially estimated the death toll to be at least 200. JNIM said it killed nearly 300 people, but claimed it targeted military-affiliated militia members rather than civilians, according to a translation of the website Intelligence Group cited by Reuters.

“Large-scale deadly attacks (at least a hundred deaths) against civilian populations or defense and security forces have been occurring for several weeks at a pace that appears unsustainable to the government,” says the report on Burkina Faso, “which no longer has a military strategy to offer and whose propaganda speech seems breathless and without ideas.”

The French official told CNN that there has been a “very significant deterioration in the security situation” in Burkina Faso, where “armed terrorist groups enjoy increasing freedom of action because security forces are unable to deal with the situation.” The report records an attack on a military convoy in the village of Tawori, 15 days before the attack in Barsalogho, where “no less than 150 soldiers” were killed by jihadists, adding that the military is struggling to maintain power and credibility.

On September 17, the capital of neighboring Mali, Bamako, was rocked by another JNIM attack, which hit the airport, among other important buildings, and killed more than 70 people.

‘Defensive trenches’ have become more serious

The massacre in Barsalogho occurred when the military ordered local residents to dig a vast network of trenches around the city to protect it from jihadists roaming nearby. JNIM gunmen then attacked the defenses midway through construction, falsely claiming that civilians were combatants due to their involvement, according to eyewitnesses.

One survivor, who requested anonymity when speaking to CNN because he still feared for his safety despite having fled the city, he said he was one of dozens of men who were instructed by the army to dig trenches that Saturday. He was four kilometers from the city at around 11 am, in a trench, when he heard the first shots.

“I started crawling into the trench to escape,” he said. “But it looked like the attackers were following the trenches. So I crawled outside and found the first bloodied victim. In fact, there was blood everywhere in my path. There were screams everywhere. I lay face down under a bush until late afternoon, hiding.”

“After that, there were few men left in the city. Seeing the bodies arrive in motorized carts from the site of the massacre was the most horrible thing I have ever seen in my life. Neither women nor children had tears to shed. We were more than shocked. How can you cry if there are no tears to shed?”

“We, the survivors, are no longer normal. The problem is beyond all of us. The massacre began in front of me. The first shots were fired right in front of me. I was one of the people who collected the bodies and buried them. I see my deceased friends when I am sleeping,” he said, adding that initial reports of 300 deaths were very low. “Anyone who denies it should come and see me.”

Another survivor told CNN that two members of his family were killed in the attack. “They killed people all day. For three days we collected bodies – scattered everywhere. Fear entered our hearts. At the time of the burial, there were so many bodies lying on the ground that it was difficult to bury them.”

The attack led to furious protests in which Burkina Faso’s junta leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in the second of two successive military coups in 2022, was mocked as “IB Captain Zero” for endorsing the construction of trenches by civilians. The French report states that its construction was part of a plan by the Minister of Public Service, according to which each village “must organize itself and have its own response plan to an attack”.

The military junta did not take responsibility for telling civilians to dig in the trenches without any protection, in a context of increased threat from jihadists. Survivors said the regime did not want them to talk about what happened. The council did not respond to a request for comment. from CNN .

The 2022 coups d’état in Burkina Faso came amid frustrations over the authorities’ inability to quell recurring jihadist violence despite intense French military assistance, which killed thousands over nearly a decade. But this violence has worsened under Traore, according to human rights experts and activists.

Although initially successful, in 2014 French military operations in the region were met with growing anti-French sentiment. France expanded its counter-terrorism presence but was unable to contain the ever-expanding armed groups that threatened civilians. As a result, local populations became wary of the former colonial power.

Traoré has made just one public appearance since the massacre, and the assessment – ​​written at the end of August – questions his state of mind and suitability for the role. “We see here the authorities’ inability to provide a serious and credible response to the terrorist threat,” says the report.

Russian mercenaries retreat as violence spreads

Meanwhile, Russian mercenaries who arrived in Burkina Faso almost a year ago have failed to bring calm to the country and are at least partially being withdrawn to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine, the assessment adds.

Increased security in the capital Ouagadougou around important buildings may be linked to the withdrawal of much of the Wagner mercenary group’s 100-member “Bear” unit tasked with Traore’s personal protection, the report states. The mercenary group has been under new management since the death of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash last year, but Wagner is still colloquially referred to by his old name in the Sahel.

The report suggests that the unit was transferred to prevent Ukraine’s invasion of Russian border regions and may be replaced by less capable Russian military personnel.

Criticism of the army, expressed by families of those killed and survivors of Barsalogho, who claim that the military fled the attack, has been amplified by recent accusations of cannibalism by soldiers from Burkina Faso, the report adds. The document also cites videos publicly published on social media that appear to show soldiers from the Rapid Intervention Battalion 15 (BIR-15) eating parts of dead jihadists.

The report adds: “The General Staff of Burkina Faso’s armies published a press release on July 24, 2024, in which it ‘condemns these macabre acts’ and ‘guarantees that measures will be taken to also formally identify the origin of these images.’ and its perpetrators.’” The authorities’ assessment is that the incident is yet another sign of deteriorating discipline in the army since the coup d’état two years ago that put Traoré in power and led to the French departure.

THE CNN analyzed videos of alleged cannibalism that appear to show Burkina Faso soldiers dismembering and holding body parts of apparently dead jihadists.

The French security assessment adds that violence in Burkina Faso has begun to spread to at least one of its peaceful southern neighbors, citing an attack inside Togo from a Burkina Faso border town, Kompienga, on July 20. , taking over a Togolese army camp, killing at least 12 soldiers and looting weapons.

“Barsalogho is proof that Burkina Faso is on the edge because terrorists have great power over the country. Six hundred people died, and that is terrible, but the worst thing is that it is as if it never happened, because the killers continue to walk freely, without fear of reprisals”, according to the assessment.

This content was originally published in Massacre in Burkina Faso left 600 dead, points out a French report on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil