DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A woman murdered with her baby wrapped around her body, lifeless children tangled together, a 2-month-old lying on her back on the ground, a puppy crawling over her tiny body. The scene was horrifying, but the 32-year-old farmer felt he had to document it as evidence of the massacre in his village in central Burkina Faso.
On November 5, security forces attacked with pickup trucks, guns and drones, killing more than a dozen of his relatives, he told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said he hid on his neighbor’s property for hours and took a series of photos before fleeing the next morning.
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Dozens more people were killed in the village of Zaongo that day, according to the UN report, which cited his and two other survivors’ accounts and government figures. The images and interviews with three survivors the man sent to The Associated Press show the killing of civilians by Burkina Faso’s security forces as the junta fights back a growing jihadist insurgency and attacks civilians under the guise of counter-terrorism. This is valuable first-hand testimony at a time when the number of cases is rapidly increasing.
Most attacks, including the killing of children by soldiers at military bases last year uncovered by an Associated Press investigation, are unpunished in countries run by repressive leaders who silence perceived dissidents. is not reported either.
A mural seen in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Three survivors of an attack in Zaongo, central Burkina Faso, told The Associated Press that security forces attacked on November 5, killing dozens of people in their village. One of the survivors, a 32-year-old farmer, said he photographed the gruesome body scene as evidence of the massacre before fleeing. (AP photo)
Since jihadist violence linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State first hit the West African country nine years ago, 20,000 people have died, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a US-based nonprofit organization. More than one person died. The fighting has divided the once-peaceful nation, put dozens of cities on lockdown and sparked two military coups.
According to ACLED statistics, civilian deaths at the hands of security forces increased by 70% from 2022 to 2023, with the death toll going from 430 to 735.
A Burkina Faso government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the November 5 attack. Officials have previously denied killing civilians and said jihadists often disguise themselves as soldiers.
Three survivors told the AP they believed the men were security forces, not jihadists. They were wearing military uniforms with the Burkina Faso flag affixed to them, and he was described as trying to warn a group of civilians that anyone found alive would be killed. There is. Farmers witnessed helicopters flying towards the village in the aftermath of the attack. Helicopters are only used by the military, not rebels.
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Seif Magango said the UN called on the government to conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the attack, hold those responsible to account and compensate the victims and their families. Stated.
Burkina Faso’s public prosecutor’s office announced it had opened an investigation, but survivors said they had heard nothing after four months.
“They slaughtered them.”
It was early in the morning when the farmer heard gunshots in the distance. He said he was farming land a few miles from his home with his father and returned to the village to wait for it to finish.
Local residents say violence is common in Nametenga province, and it is common to hear gunfire and see soldiers on patrol.
But this Sunday was different.
According to the farmer, around 3 p.m., hundreds of men, most of them wearing military uniforms, stormed in on motorcycles and trucks and began killing people indiscriminately.
He hid in a neighbor’s house, but after several hours of gunshots, a man carrying a Burkina Faso flag entered and warned people to stay away from him, he said.
“The soldier told us that his colleague was on another property,” the farmer said. “He said he didn’t want to hurt us, but if the others realized we were still alive, they would kill us.”
That night, he said, when the gunfire stopped, he left the compound and saw dead and wounded men, women and children scattered across Zaongo. Among them were his father, two brothers, a sister, and his girlfriend’s four children.
The uncle’s body lay beneath several children. His 63-year-old father was at the door of his home.
“These people took shelter in huts but were massacred,” the farmer said.
today’s military government
It is unclear what prompted the attacks, but locals say security forces often believe villagers are collaborating with extremists.
Since seizing power in a second coup in September 2022, the military junta led by Colonel Ibrahim Traore has threatened human rights groups and journalists and carried out attacks on civilians, which are war crimes under international law. There is a possibility that
According to Human Rights Watch, at least 60 people were killed at two markets and a funeral in Burkina Faso and neighboring Mali late last year in attacks by military drones that it said were targeting Islamic fighters. Died.
Conflict analysts and Sahel experts say the junta is on a war footing as it tries to repel jihadists who have taken control of more than half the country. It is using new general mobilization laws to expand repression and force people into combat.
The junta has distanced itself from regional and Western countries that do not agree with its approach. This year, it left the West African regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS and created an alliance with Mali and Niger, also run by military regimes fighting a jihadist insurgency.
The military government severed military ties with former colonial power France. Authorities are welcoming dozens of Russians to help maintain military rule, according to several conflict experts and diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
In November, days after the Zaongo massacre, 50 Russians arrived in Burkina Faso to protect the military regime, influence public opinion and provide security services, said Lou Osborne, noting Wagner. He said he is doing so. Only a handful of countries in Africa.
The future of the Wagner Group has been uncertain since its leader, Evgeny Prigozhin, died in a suspicious plane crash last year, but its presence in Burkina Faso marks a new and more visible phase of the group’s influence. Department, Osborne said. A pro-Russian association called “Africa Initiative” has been established and is staffed by former Prigozhin employees, she said.
The goal is to promote the culture and language of Russia and Burkina Faso through a new radio program, “Russian Hour,” the initiative’s president, Sumaila Azenwo Ayo, told The Associated Press.
Africa is politically and economically key to Russia as it seeks allies amid the war in Ukraine. However, Wagner mercenaries have been accused of human rights atrocities by human rights groups and civilians in the countries where they operate, including killing 300 people in a village in Mali in 2022. If Burkina Faso’s presence increases, there are concerns that more civilians will die.
The United States has reduced or suspended aid to Burkina Faso’s military, but said it is still supplying non-lethal equipment to civilian security forces, including the national police. In January, nearly 100 bicycles and pickup trucks were delivered.
The State Department said in a statement that it has provided $16 million in “counterterrorism capacity building assistance” to Burkina Faso since 2022.
“We are not aware of any recent misuse of equipment.” “We take the allegations seriously and will continue to monitor and evaluate the use of our security assistance.”
Some analysts said continuing U.S. aid would send the wrong message.
“Other countries around the world will watch and watch and say, ‘I too can imprison all my adversaries, kill civilians in the name of counter-terrorism, play friendly relations with Russia and China — and ‘The United States is still going to give me everything.’ That’s the toy I was looking for,” said Anneliese Bernard, a former State Department official who specializes in African issues and runs a risk advisory group. Ta.
intermediate civilian
During the Nov. 5 attack, Moore told the men in military uniform, who spoke French and local languages, and called for all men to leave the house, the 45-year-old’s mother told The Associated Press.
When she looked through the window of the house where she was hiding, she saw her relatives being killed. There were over 15 people in total.
She said a soldier found her and signaled her to lie down and remain silent. She said the men dressed, looked and spoke like soldiers who regularly pass through villages to inspect people’s documents.
The third survivor who spoke to The Associated Press, a 55-year-old man from Zaongo, has been accused of collaborating with jihadists after villagers refused to join the tens of thousands of volunteers working with the Burkina Faso army. He said he was there.
Conscription is part of the junta’s strategy, but residents say it has only led to more civilian deaths as volunteers round up people suspected of having ties to extremists. It also provokes jihadists to attack local communities with volunteers.
As violence escalates, civilians are increasingly caught in the middle. The United Nations says more than 2 million people have been displaced and tens of thousands face severe hunger. Insecurity makes it difficult for aid organizations to reach people in need.
At least 74 civilians were killed in December in connection with weeks of convoys bringing food and aid, according to ACLED. They were killed by both the military and jihadists, two aid workers told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. One worker said the jihadists accused civilians of providing information to the convoy’s armed escort.
An internal report to aid workers obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers guarding food supplies “opened fire on suspected accomplices” of jihadist-linked fighters.
“We are scared.”
Four months after the attack, survivors are worried that bodies still lie decomposed on the ground in Zaongo, now occupied by jihadists. Some of the relatives were able to return home about a week after the death, but there were so many bodies that there was not enough time to bury them all. Since then, they have been unable to return.
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It is still unclear how many people were killed, with reports from survivors, the United Nations and aid groups varying from 70 to more than 200.
Survivors have been evacuated to different parts of the country. They are fearful that it may happen again and are calling on the government to hold the killers accountable.
“I never expected so many people to be killed at once,” one survivor told The Associated Press.
“When doors slam or kids scream, we get scared. If we go back there, we’ll just die.”
