Burkina Faso soldiers murdered at least 223 civilians, including 56 children, in two towns in the north of the country on February 25, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) made public this Thursday. Survivors of the massacre assured this international organization that members of the Burkinabe Army arrived that day in the towns of Nondin and Soro and began shooting indiscriminately against the villagers, whom they accused of complicity with a jihadist group that hours before had attacked a military base about 25 kilometers. This is one of the worst massacres committed by the Burkinabe Armed Forces against civilians since violence by jihadist groups began in 2015 in this Sahel country.
Between February 24 and 25, 2024, armed jihadists launched various attacks against civilian and military targets in the Yatenga province, including against the Ouahigouya military base, in northern Burkina Faso. In response, the Armed Forces launched a counteroffensive that took them first to the town of Nondin and then to Soro, about five kilometers away. “Before the soldiers started shooting at us, they accused us of complicity with the jihadists,” a 32-year-old Soro survivor who was shot in the leg told HRW, “they said we had not cooperated with the Army because we did not inform them.” of jihadist movements.”
According to witnesses, around nine in the morning that day, about 100 soldiers arrived in Nondin, a town located next to the national highway, and began to go door to door to remove all the neighbors from their homes. Once everyone was outside, they began shooting, the report explains, pursuing those who tried to flee or hide. The events were similar in Soro, where the military arrived two hours later. A 48-year-old farmer who survived the massacre after taking cover behind a tree explained to investigators that they first separated the men and women and then shot them. Based on the testimonies of 23 people, including 14 witnesses to the massacre, HRW has prepared two lists with the names of the victims. Survivors and residents of nearby villages were forced to bury the bodies in 11 mass graves, three in Nondin and eight in Soro.
On February 25 itself, Burkinabé public television reported that the military had launched a counterinsurgency operation after the attack on the Ouahigouya military base and that the Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR) had pursued the jihadists who fled towards Thiou, through the road that passes by Nondin and Soro. The next day, residents of both towns went to the police station in the regional capital to report the events and the prosecutor opened an investigation.
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“The Nondin and Soro massacres are just the latest committed by Burkina Faso’s military in its counterinsurgency operations,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director of HRW. “The authorities’ repeated failure to prevent and investigate such atrocities underscores why international assistance is essential to support a credible investigation of potential crimes against humanity,” she added. Before publishing its report, this organization verified videos and photographs taken by survivors and identified the specific locations where mass graves are located.
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The Army of Burkina Faso, a country controlled by the military after the two coups d’état in 2022, has been accused on several occasions of massacres and extrajudicial executions committed against civilians. One of the worst so far occurred last December around Djibo, where around 150 people, including women and children, were killed following a military operation conducted by BIR special forces. Likewise, in April 2023, the Army was accused of the Karma massacre, in which some 200 civilians were also executed. In all cases and despite the testimonies of witnesses and survivors, the Government accused the jihadists of being the authors of these crimes.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has faced a jihadist insurgency led by local branches of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State in the Sahel. Armed groups have caused thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than two million people from their homes. The insecurity caused by this conflict is at the origin of the coups d’état of 2022, the last of which brought Captain Ibrahim Traoré to power, who announced as his priority objective the recovery of the territory under the control of jihadist groups. Since then, Burkina Faso has experienced a setback in terms of human rights and freedoms. Political leaders and activists critical of the regime have been forcibly enlisted in the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP) and taken to the front lines.
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