AFRICA/BURKINA FASO - JNIM jihadists attack local self-defense groups

Ouagadougou (Agenzia Fides) - Jihadist groups continue to spread fear and terror in Burkina Faso. After the massacre in the village of Barsalogho on August 24, in which at least 200 people died, on August 30 an attack on a self-defense group of "volunteers in defense of the fatherland" in Barga, in the north of the country, left at least 13 people dead.
On the same day, armed men carried out an attack in Yondé, in the central-eastern region, in which about ten people died. Finally, on August 31, significant material damage was reported in an attack on a base of the defense and security forces in the village of Bam, in the north-central region.
In both cases, local self-defense groups were the target of the jihadists. In Barsalogho (in the north-central area), JNIM (Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims) jihadists struck while the population was digging defensive trenches at the behest of the army. Some reports say 200 people were killed, but surviving residents reported at least 400 casualties. According to survivors, a military command forced the villagers to dig the trench "against their will," leaving them vulnerable to retaliation from JNIM jihadists. JNIM jihadists have claimed responsibility for the massacre in a video showing the bodies of the civilian victims with only digging tools next to them, but no weapons.
The civilians were allegedly forcibly recruited by the army and sent to dig defensive trenches several kilometers from their village, without any military protection. The attack lasted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. After first murdering the men digging the trenches, the jihadists overran the village, killing women, children and the elderly.
After the Angelus on Sunday 1 September, Pope Francis expressed his sadness over the terrorist attack in Barsalogho: "I have learned with sorrow that on Saturday 24 August, in the municipality of Barsalogho, in Burkina Faso, hundreds of people, including women and children, were killed and many others injured in a terrorist attack,," Francis said after his midday prayer. "In condemning these heinous attacks against human life, I express my closeness to the nation as a whole, and my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. May the Virgin Mary help the beloved people of Burkina Faso to regain peace and security."
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM is on the rise throughout the Sahel region. It is active not only in Burkina Faso, but also in Niger and Mali, and is expanding into the border areas of Benin, Togo and Ghana. In the latter country, border guards have been alerted to possible jihadist attacks in the border areas with Burkina Faso.
In addition to the government troops of the countries involved, the JNIM also faces the other main jihadist group operating in the region, the Islamic State's Sahel affiliate.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are countries where military juntas have recently come to power through coups, which, after ousting Western contingents, receive military aid from Russia and Turkey. In a message posted on social media in mid-August by Othman al-Ansari, considered the number two in the JNIM, the jihadist group called on the Muslim populations of the three countries to overcome ethnic and tribal divisions and unite in a jihad against the military juntas and their Russian and Turkish allies, naming the private military companies "Wagner" (Russian) and "Sadat" (Turkish). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 3/9/2024)

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