According to authorities, at least 60 people were killed in northern Burkina Faso last week by men wearing national army uniforms.
While the country’s prosecutor did not directly charge Burkina Faso’s armed forces, he said he had opened an investigation, the latest investigation into whether they violated human rights. Human rights groups have repeatedly accused the military and related groups of committing murders and abuses against the people they are tasked with protecting.
The country, a landlocked nation of 20 million people in West Africa, has faced continued jihadist attacks since 2015 that displaced two million people, killed thousands and pushed more half of the country out of government control.
When it seized power in a coup in September, a military junta vowed to bring security. But allegation of unlawful murderwhich has appeared periodically over the years, has spiked in areas where residents are suspected of supporting jihadists.
Burkina Faso’s prosecutor, Lamine Kaboré, said in a statement Sunday that he had opened an investigation after receiving a report in the murder of about 60 people in the village of Karma, near the border with Mali.
The killings took place on Thursday, according to a Security Department official who discussed the events on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Kaboré said that an unidentified number of people had also been injured and that men in military uniforms had looted some goods.
The statement came just days after authorities in Burkina Faso announced an investigation into the February murder of seven boys, another case in which members of the country’s armed forces are suspected. responsibility.
In a video seen by The New York Times, men in national uniforms can be seen walking among the lifeless bodies of seven boys with their hands tied behind their backs. In the video, one of the men throws a rock at the boy’s head. “This person doesn’t want to die,” said the man who filmed the scene with his smartphone.
He said, “Wait for the man who is about to act, and we will kill him.
According to ‘s own investigation Related press and French newspapers liberate, release, freeBurkina Faso’s security forces killed the children at a military base near Ouahigouya, a town in the north of the country about 10 miles from Karma, the village where 60 people were killed.
Burkina Faso’s governments have faced pressure to hold their armed forces accountable, especially as the 90,000 residents volunteered to take up arms and defend the country in civilian groups. with the military last year.
In February, the Parliament of Burkina Faso passed a bill strengthening the role of police chiefs, who are responsible for discipline in the military and upholding the rights of detainees.
Numerous allegations of abuse against civilians have come as Burkina Faso’s military-led government has been at odds with the country’s traditional partners such as France, withdraw hundreds of troops this early year. Instead, the government has sought to strengthen ties with Russia, amid persistent rumors that the Kremlin-backed private military company Wagner might move to the country.
Western and West African governments have repeatedly warned of the destabilizing impact Wagner could have in Burkina Faso, but its presence there has yet to be confirmed.
