In early April, the country’s new strongman announced the creation of local committees for dialogue with jihadist groups to try to stem the violence.
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New deadly attack in Burkina Faso. About fifty civilians died on Wednesday after an assault on the town of Madjoari, in the east of the country, local authorities announced on Thursday May 26. These attacks, attributed to armed jihadists against civilians and soldiers, have multiplied in recent weeks in the country.
That committed on Wednesday is the bloodiest since the attack perpetrated almost a year ago in Solhan, in the northeast, which left 132 dead. “Inhabitants of Madjoari”a locality placed under blockade by jihadists who were trying to leave it, “were targeted” near a bridge “by unidentified armed individuals”the governor of the Eastern region said in a statement. “The provisional report” reports “about fifty people killed”he said.
Like other municipalities in the north and east of Burkina, such as Djibo and Titao, that of Madjoari has been placed under blockade by the jihadists who strike in these regions. The army sometimes manages to send supply convoys there.
Burkina Faso, in particular the north and the east, has been hit for seven years by movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State which have killed more than 2,000 civilians and soldiers, and nearly two million of displaced.
The country’s new strongman, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who overthrew elected President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré at the end of January, accused of being ineffective in the face of jihadist violence, has made the security issue his “priority”.
In early April, he announced the creation of local committees for dialogue with jihadist groups to try to stem the violence. A strategy that does not seem to bear the expected fruits for the moment.