2023-05-02 09:09:35
At least 1,240 civilians have died violently this April in Africa, more than double that of last month. The figure does not include homicides between individuals, due only to episodes of inter-communal violence, jihadist attacks and murders perpetrated by security forces. For the most part, the numbers refer to the killings of between ten and forty people that occur weekly on the continent. It should be noted that the intrinsic difficulty of the nature of the African continent in obtaining complete figures means that it is likely that more deaths than those mentioned have occurred, because the secrecy of certain regions prevents many of the deaths from being known until the International organizations publish their quarterly or annual reports, if such deaths are ever reported. This occurs, for example, in the Central African Republic, South Sudan or Somalia, countries in conflict for which data has not yet been collected for this month of April, beyond a few victims leaked to the press.
The nations with the highest number of people affected have been the Democratic Republic of the Congo (more than 155 deaths), Nigeria (more than 185 deaths), Burkina Faso (more than 260 deaths) and Sudan (more than 500 deaths).. One of the greatest horrors experienced this month on the continent has as its protagonist Kenya, where the police have already found 95 bodies belonging to the religious organization renowned by the press as the Hunger Sect, which guaranteed eternal salvation to its followers if they fasted. to death. Although the victims did not die at the hands of armed groups, what happened has shocked the East African nation.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Jihadist groups infiltrated the country and communal violence have been responsible for most of the murders this month, with 33 and 85 victims, respectively. The worst massacre recorded in the month of April occurred in the province of Ituri, in the eastern DRC and very close to the border with Uganda. The massacre took place in a group of villages on April 14, when a group of armed men stormed the towns, murdered 43 civilians and later set fire to an undetermined number of houses. Although it is not known for certain which group the perpetrators belonged to, sources quoted by Reuters assured that they were militants from the Congo Development Cooperative (CODECO).
This group, whose interests fluctuate between religion, ethnicity and politics, already was responsible for the deaths of more than 60 people in Plaine Savo in February 2022 and another 30 people in March of this year. Between the past months of December and January they have been accused by the UN of having murdered nearly 200 people. These attacks are part of the tension that has existed for decades between the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups, where the CODECO is made up of militiamen belonging to the Lendu community and acts with almost complete freedom due to the chaotic situation in eastern DRC.
Nigeria
Clashes between herders and farmers are common in the most populous country in Africa, although the murder of some 130 people in just 10 days in the State of Benue has shaken the entire nation. The culprits in this case: herders from the Fulani community who compete against farmers of other ethnic groups for fertile land, which is increasingly scarce in the country due to climate change and prolonged droughts.. Although the conflict between farmers and herders in Nigeria dates back centuries, the situation between the two groups worsened markedly at the end of the 20th century, when droughts and population pressure forced herders to relocate to the southern provinces. Deaths have numbered in the tens of thousands since then.
Pastoralists used to trade milk from their herds for grain from farmers, thus creating a fragile status quo that was enough to defuse tensions to some extent. The popularization of packaged milk in the country caused farmers to lose interest in local milk, which impoverished herders and led them to use violent measures to maintain their control over pastures, if not through economic tools, then with the force of arms.
Burkina Faso
With the jihadists controlling 40% of the national territory, the situation in Burkina Faso is extreme. Two coups in 2022 alone and more than 4,000 deaths a year bleed a nation that is currently in a situation of civil war and where inter-ethnic clashes multiply the religious factor. The current head of state, artillery captain Ibrahim Traoré, has declared open war against the jihadists and anyone who supports them. So much so, that anyone who deals with terrorists, even to sell them a bottle of water, will be considered a terrorist by the military and executed as such. The results of this extreme policy threaten, however, with disaster, as can be seen after what happened this April.
A group of men dressed in military uniforms approached the town of Karma and its surroundings on the morning of the 20th to begin one of the worst massacres in recent years. Children, women, men and the elderly were executed in a few hours under the accusation of having collaborated with the jihadists, as confirmed by the survivors. The numbers dance. The government cites 60 deaths from the attack and denies the responsibility of the armed forces; human rights groups that have traveled to Karma in recent days have assured LA RAZÓN that the figure is around 200 deaths and they have few doubts about the responsibility of the army and the VDP (Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland). The international media coverage of this massacre has been minimal, among which the Burkinabe army, far from advancing in its fight against terrorism, continues a dynamic of massacres that only increases the number of civilians who join the terrorists in seeking revenge for the death of his loved ones.
Sudan
The power struggle between generals Al Burhan and Hemedti has led to a civil war whose consequences are predicted to be catastrophic. After counting four hundred civilian victims in the first days of the conflict, for almost a week the number has stagnated below 600, while it is intuited that the figure will be higher than that registered in the absence of anyone who keeps the account in full. A nation that had hoped to build a civilian and democratic government in the near future saw its dreams come crashing down as fighting broke out in the country’s major cities.
The numbers of refugees fleeing the fratricidal conflict are just beginning to take shape. The UN estimates that around 100,000 people will flee to Chad in the coming weeks., thus adding to the 400,000 Sudanese already hosted by the neighboring nation due to previous conflicts; IOM indicates that more than 75,000 Sudanese have been added to the status of internally displaced. Added to the chaos of the flight is the difficult situation experienced by the populations of Khartoum (the capital) and Darfur, where there is hardly any food left in the stores and a humanitarian crisis coming hand in hand with hunger can be guessed.
It is relevant to know that At least 700 of the deaths that occurred in the month of April, more than half accounted for, have been at the hands of the security forces of the affected nations. Regardless of the possible justifications that the Burkinabe and Sudanese military use when completing their actions, there is no doubt that the continent has suffered a serious drift towards state violence this month (translated by some as state terrorism), which only it manages to delegitimize the security forces of the governments involved and, consequently, the governments themselves that give the order to shoot.
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