2023-11-14 00:03:10
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the murder of 70 people in Burkina Faso as a massacre. Image: EPA
After over 70 people were killed in a village in Burkina Faso, the public prosecutor’s office is investigating. The dead include mainly children and the elderly. EU foreign policy chief Borrell speaks of a massacre.
In Burkina Faso, West Africa, public prosecutors are investigating the killing of at least 70 people in an area in the north of the country contested by the army and Islamists. The public prosecutor in the country ruled by a military junta after a coup said on Monday that it was mainly children and elderly people who were killed in the attack on November 5th on the village of Zaongo in the Center-North region. Houses were also burned down. At the weekend, the EU and the USA called on the authorities in Burkina Faso to clarify the circumstances of the killings. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell spoke of a massacre.
In Burkina Faso, as in the neighboring states of Mali and Niger, terrorist groups have spread, some of which are allied with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State terrorist militia. The leadership in power after a coup in 2022 only controls around half of the national territory. In the spring she ordered general mobilization to recruit 50,000 volunteers for the fight.
Published/Updated: Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5 Claudia Bröll, Cape Town Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 2
According to surveys by the conflict data organization ACLED, more than 7,000 people were killed in Burkina Faso this year alone. More than 1,700 people died in violence targeting civilians. While jihadists plant explosive devices or attack villages, rural residents who are accused of collaborating with terrorists are also targeted by state forces.
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