The government reported that 28 bodies were discovered in northwest Burkina Faso over the weekend, and human rights advocates accused a volunteer militia formed to bolster the army’s fight against jihadis of being responsible.
In recent months, there have been more attacks on civilians and security forces, especially in the north and east near Mali and Niger.
A government statement issued late on Monday stated, “The administration was told of an incident at Nouna… during the night of December 30-31.”
According to preliminary reports, “28 persons have been killed,” it said that an inquiry had been launched and advised everyone to remain calm.
The Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP), a civilian auxiliary force that aids the military in its seven-year war against jihadists, has come under fire from a rights group called the Collective of Communities against Impunity and Stigmatizations (CISC).
In a statement, Nouna’s public prosecutor, Armel Sama, claimed that “the majority of the victims, all of them males, were shot dead.”
One of the world’s poorest and most unstable countries is the landlocked nation of West Africa.
It has been battling an insurgency since 2015 that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of about 2 million people. Jihadists with ties to both the Islamic State and al-Qaida are in charge of the insurgency.
The VDP was established in December 2019 and consists of civilian volunteers who undergo two weeks of military training before working alongside the army, generally doing surveillance, information collection, or escorting missions.
Experts have been worried for a long time that volunteers who aren’t properly trained are easy targets for jihadists and could cause dangerous interethnic conflict if there isn’t enough oversight.
The CISC said that a rumoured “terrorist attack” on the local VDP offices was what started the weekend’s activities in Nouna.
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Then, it claimed, “deadly acts were carried out in retaliation” by armed men. According to the CISC, victims claimed the attackers were VDP who belonged to the Dozo, a traditional hunting society.
CISC Secretary Daouda Diallo urged the authorities to give the matter “particular attention.”
Armed terrorist organisations use these transgressions to recruit members of the general public, Diallo cautioned.
Prior to the weekend’s events, three suspected extrajudicial killings and kidnappings involving Dozo or VDP had taken place, according to CISC.
A government spokesman said that the killings over the weekend happened at a time when Burkina Faso had started an operation to get the whole country working together to fight terrorism.
With the aid of a patriotic campaign, the government launched a recruitment drive for 50,000 VDP in November, and 90,000 people responded.
The statement says that the government “strongly opposes any kind of violation or violation of human rights for any reason.”
The VDP has lost the most people in the security forces because of the terrorist war.
Particularly in ambushes or explosions brought on by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) hidden along the roadside, hundreds of volunteers have perished.
Officers who were angry that the army, police, and VDP were dying and nothing was being done to stop the violence last year led two military coups.
