(Ouagadougou) About sixty civilians from a village in northern Burkina Faso were massacred Thursday by men in army uniforms in this country caught in the spiral of violence since 2015, the prosecutor of Ouahigouya announced on Sunday ( north).
The prosecutor of the Ouahigouya High Court, Lamine Kaboré, writes in a statement that he was informed by the city’s gendarmerie “that in the village of Karma”, located in the province of Yatenga, “about sixty people were killed by people wearing the uniforms of our national armed forces”.
“The wounded have been evacuated and are currently being taken care of within our health structures”, he added, specifying that “the perpetrators of these facts would have taken away various goods”.
The prosecutor indicates that, “seized of these facts, the seriousness of which is proven”, he “gave the necessary instructions […] with a view to elucidating them and challenging all those involved in them”.
He launched “an appeal to all those who have information on these facts” to “denounce them”.
According to residents, survivors said that “more than a hundred people on motorcycles and pick-ups raided Karma last Thursday. Dozens of men and young people were executed by these men dressed in military uniforms”. These survivors spoke of a death toll “around 80 dead”.
This massacre occurred a week after the death of six soldiers and 34 Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP, civilian auxiliaries of the army) killed during an attack by suspected jihadists near the village of Aorema, about fifteen kilometers from Ouahigouya.
The village of Karma is about forty km from that of Aorema near the Malian border and attracts many illegal gold miners.
“Punitive Expedition”
In early April, Burkina Faso’s military justice announced that it would conduct an investigation to shed “all the light” on the death of several civilians during “serious altercations” with soldiers in Dori, also in the north of the country.
According to the prefect of the city, Abrahamane Mande, soldiers fired automatic weapons and beat citizens, “causing loss of life and injuries among the population”.
Residents of Dori had specified that it was a “punitive expedition” led by soldiers after the assassination of a soldier, which had been confirmed by the Burkinabe movement for human and peoples’ rights ( MBDHP).
Burkina Faso, the scene of two military coups in 2022, has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali and Niger a few years earlier and which has spread beyond their borders.
The violence over the past seven years has left more than 10,000 dead – civilians and soldiers – according to NGOs, and some two million displaced.
The transitional president of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power by a putsch in September 2022, signed a decree on Wednesday of “general mobilization” for a period of one year, allowing if necessary the requisition of “young aged 18 and over” to go and fight against the jihadists who are bloodying the country.