Burkina Faso’s military leader and interim president, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, on Monday ordered citizens in the northern and southeastern regions to evacuate after establishing two “military interest zones” to thwart predicted jihadist attacks.
While the army is yet to provide details on when the operations will begin and end or on safe zones civilians can evacuate to, Lt. Col. Yves-Didier Bamouni, the Commander of national operations, underscored that “all human activities that risk exposure” to the army operations will be prohibited in these areas.
Parks service chief Benoit Doama claims that the emergency order has been in the works for “some time in order to fully take control of the situation in the reserves and periphery.”
With civilian deaths in Mali soaring and the Burkina Faso government enforcing military zones in its north, asking civilians to leave, military leaders in both countries have failed to tackle the insecurity they cited when grabbing power. pic.twitter.com/KIrZZXWKS7
— Katarina Höije (@katarinah) June 21, 2022
One zone covers an area of up to 2,000 square kilometres in areas bordering Mali in the northern province of Soum, while the other zone, along the southern border with Benin, spans around 11,000 square kilometres.
The decision was made after Damiba convened meeting of the High Council of National Defence on Monday to address the continued fight against terrorist groups in the northern and eastern regions. Following the meeting, he decided to mobilise the Patriotic Defence and Surveillance Brigade (BVDP)—along with volunteers for the defence of the fatherland (VDP)—to fight off the Islamist insurgents, most of whom are linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Lt. Col Bamouni has said the measure will bring “greater efficiency in the fight against the terrorist hydra.”
In fact, the announcement comes against the backdrop of several similar operations conducted by the Burkinabé army over the last month. On Monday, the military announced that it had killed at least 128 “terrorists” in three successful operations—in the northwestern region of Boucle du Mouhoun bordering Mali, at a mining site in Namisiguima in the north, and a near the Niger border in the northeast—in collaboration with the G-5 Sahel forces which is comprised of around 5,000 troops from Mauritius, Chad, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso (Mali recently withdrew from the group).
Burkina Faso has become a hotbed for conflict since militants seized swathes of territory in neighbouring Mali in 2012 and 2013, with attacks by jihadist groups becoming particularly frequent after 2015. The constant conflict and instability has killed thousands and displaced over two million people.
#BurkinaFaso's interim leader Lt Col Damiba has met the man he deposed in January, ex-president Roch Kabore, as the country struggles to contain militant violence that ongoing security reforms are unable to withstand.
— Beverly Ochieng (@BeverlyOchieng) June 22, 2022
(Otherwise known as the handshake, Kenyans know this🙃) pic.twitter.com/W5vf0tXeo6
In fact, Damiba overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in a coup in January following months of mass protests against the democratically-elected government’s failure to tackle the rise of Islamist extremism in the country.
The army has suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the National Assembly, and closed the borders. Damiba’s coup and subsequent takeover received overwhelming support from the citizenry, although the country was suspended from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The military junta has been threatened with sanctions after saying it would only return the country to democratic rule after three years.
Damiba has argued that he needs this much time to improve security in the country. However, since the establishment of his transitional government, jihadist attacks have only escalated.
On Monday, estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs revealed that the humanitarian crisis in the cross-border region between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger has considerably deteriorated, with 861 deaths from 403 violent incidents in May alone.
A report by Reliefweb further highlighted that Burkinabés are the most severely affected, asserting that large scale displacement is exacerbating food insecurity, jeopardising social cohesion, and restricting access to education and healthcare. Around 600,000 children are reported to be severely malnourished, with 6,872 schools and 290 health centres having shut down.
With around 300,000 children losing access to education due to prolonged school closures, the youth have become more vulnerable to abuse, human trafficking, and combat recruitment. In fact, child soldiers aged between 12 and 14 were allegedly involved in an attack in the northeastern village of Solhan in June 2021 that killed 138 people.
#BurkinaFaso: Video footage has emerged online that allegedly shows an #IslamicState terrorist attack in Seytenga a few days ago.
— Africis (@AfricisOrg) June 12, 2022
There is what appears to be a suicide bombing at the end of the video pic.twitter.com/aYw1ASHBkc
The military’s ability to address these worrying trends has come under increasing scrutiny, with ECOWAS mediator Mahamadou Issoufou claiming that the government controls merely 60% of Burkina Faso’s territory, which has pulled the country into “a multidimensional crisis: security, humanitarian, political, and socioeconomic.”
Moreover, the military is considered severely resource-constrained, under-equipped, and poorly trained for dealing with insurgency. Despite backing from the French and regional forces as well as intelligence and logistical support by the United States, massacres have become a regular occurrence.
For instance, around 100 civilians were killed in an attack by jihadist militia in Seytenga in the northern Séno province June 11.
A similar incident in Madjoari in the eastern Kompienga province at the end of last month left 50 people dead. Moreover, the conflict has spilled over into neighbouring countries like Benin and Togo.
Over 107,000 internal displacements have been reported across #BurkinaFaso #Mali #Nigeria #Mozambique and #Cameroon in the past few weeks only as a result of insecurity & conflict. @IDMC_Geneva pic.twitter.com/JwldFLTezi
— Clémentine André (@andr_clem) June 21, 2022
In fact, the greater Sahel region at large has been reeling under recurrent attacks and heavy instability, with Mali witnessing a bloody massacre by suspected jihadists over the weekend that killed 130 civilians. Interestingly, Mali, Guinea, Chad, Burkina Faso, Sudan have all witnessed coups in the last two years, while Niger, too, has experienced an attempted military coup.
Against this backdrop, a coalition of West African NGOs has reported that the number of civilians killed in extremist attacks has almost doubled since 2020 in the Sahel.