The government has “refuted” the “allegations” involving the army indicating that a investigation was opened on the death of villagers in the North Center.
Le Monde
Two human rights organizations denounced the “summary and extrajudicial executions” of “more than 40 people” perpetrated in early August in Tougouri, in northern Burkina Faso, involving the Burkinabé armed forces, in Two press releases published on Sunday August 14.
The government has “refuted” these “allegations” while indicating that the army had engaged “an investigation to verify the veracity and accuracy of these allegations”.
“The collective against impunity and stigma of communities (CISC) has been seized since Monday August 8 by several witnesses and parents of victims of the Tougouri commune, more precisely in the village of Taffogo in the region of North center, several cases of kidnappings followed by summary and extrajudicial executions, “said this human rights organization in a statement. “In total, more than 40 bodies were found later along the Taffogo-Bouroum road”, according to the CISC, specifying that “these killed people had all the hands tied and blindfolded”.
According to the organization, concordant testimonies describe “the alleged perpetrators of these kidnappings followed by systematic executions as elements of the defense and security forces (FDS) dressed in black and hooded outfits”.
estimating, for its part, “more than fifty unarmed civilians” which have been abducted in Tougouri and summarily executed on the road to Bouroum by the FDS “, the Observatory of Human Dignity (Odh ) “condemned with the latest energy these barbaric acts unworthy of our time”.
“crop the action of soldiers”
According to the ODH, citing local sources, “almost all victims are Peuls, including women and children. Some victims were arrested at the Tougouri and others at home”. “The authorities are strongly arrested on the resurgence of these unfair, barbaric practices, unworthy of a republican army and which have helped to plunge Burkina Faso in this situation” of security crisis, said this organization.
The collective invited “certain elements of the SDFs to stop the practice of abductions of bare hands followed by summary and extrajudicial executions under the fallacious pretext of fighting terrorism”. He called on the Head of State to “crop the action of these soldiers who summarize the fight against terrorism to a simple extermination of the villages occupied by a specific community”.
“The government refutes and condemns, with the latest energy, these allegations which carry discredit on the army which remains republican and resolutely engaged in the fight against terrorism and to guarantee the tranquility and security of the populations” declared to AFP his spokesperson, Lionel Bilgo. “The army has already initiated an investigation to verify the veracity and accuracy of these allegations. If they are founded, the army (…) will draw all the consequences,” said Bilgo, also Minister of the ‘National Education.
In a press release published at the end of June, the army had “reminded order of some of its elements including volunteers for the defense of the fatherland [civilian alternate] to respect for the principles of the army”, underlined Mr. Bilgo.
Regularly accused of extrajudicial executions, the Burkinabé army has always denied, sometimes pointing armed groups which use military equipment.
Other NGOs including Human Rights Watch (HRW) had already accused in 2020 the Burkinabé security forces of “extrajudicial executions” during anti -terrorist operations, after the discovery of “common pits containing at least 180 bodies” In Djibo, chief town of the Soum province, one of the most affected by jihadist attacks.
These violence have made several thousand deaths in the country since 2015, and forced nearly 2 million people to flee their home.