DHAKA (Askume) – Jihadist groups in Burkina Faso often step up attacks on civilians in retaliation after communities refuse to join or allegedly cooperate with government forces, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
The junta-led West African nation is battling Islamist insurgents, some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State, who swept into the country from neighbouring Mali nearly a decade ago.
Military leader Ibrahim Traore has emphasized the role of civilians in fighting the insurgency, recruiting thousands of volunteer military assistants, known as VDPs. It is known that recently he asked civilians to dig defensive trenches.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that jihadists were retaliating with deadly attacks on civilians.
The watchdog documented seven jihadist attacks between February and June that killed at least 128 civilians. The insurgents have targeted villages, displaced persons camps and worshippers at Catholic churches.
The al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM claimed responsibility for six attacks.
Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the group has in the past issued repeated warnings about civilians collaborating with the military, prompting attacks.
Some villagers were killed when authorities forced them to return to areas expelled by jihadists because some of them had already joined the HDP.
“We are facing a double problem,” one 56-year-old villager told Human Rights Watch.
According to witnesses, the Islamic State-affiliated group Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) claimed responsibility for the February church massacre in apparent retaliation against Christians who did not renounce their religion.
The junta has previously condemned Human Rights WatchThere are reports of military killings of people suspected of collaborating with jihadists .Civilians were killed . In August, he sent regulators a rare written response to the report.
In a letter, the Justice Minister rejected Human Rights Watch’s claims that serious crimes had not been prosecuted since the conflict began and said that all human rights violations committed by the rebels were being investigated.
The minister also said that displaced people have voluntarily returned to areas that were reclaimed and controlled by security forces.
Human Rights Watch reported no JNIM attack on civilians ordered to dig trenches around the north-central city of Barsalogo in late August. Hundreds were shot dead in one of the deadliest attacks in Burkina Faso’s history .
Traore has vowed to do better than his predecessors when he takes power in September 2022, marking Burkina Faso’s second coup this year, fueled by anger at authorities who fuelled the violence.
But analysts, rights groups and humanitarian workers say security has deteriorated under his rule and dissent has been suppressed.
