Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Burkina Faso’s military and allied militias of killing at least 130 civilians from the Fulani ethnic group in a violent operation near the town of Solenzo in March.
The rights group’s report, released Monday, details a large-scale military offensive carried out by special forces that allegedly resulted in significant civilian casualties and forced the displacement of many Fulani communities in western Burkina Faso.
HRW said that following the massacre, the Al-Qaeda-linked armed group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) launched retaliatory attacks against villages believed to have cooperated with the army.
According to Ilaria Allegrozzi, a senior researcher at HRW focused on the Sahel region, graphic videos of atrocities committed by pro-government militias circulated widely online but did not fully capture the extent of the violence. “Our subsequent investigation revealed that Burkina Faso’s military also played a direct role in the killings,” Allegrozzi stated, calling for an impartial investigation and accountability for those involved.
Targeting Civilians, Displacing Thousands
HRW had previously suggested in March that government forces may have been involved, based on video footage shared on social media. At the time, the government dismissed the claims, labeling the images as fake and inflammatory, accusing them of undermining national unity.
Monday’s report, however, alleges that government troops led operations that involved massacring Fulani civilians with the help of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), a civilian militia aligned with the government.
The report draws on testimony from eyewitnesses, journalists, militia members, and local civil society actors. Witnesses described attacks involving hundreds of soldiers and surveillance drones, indicating the military’s oversight of the operation. The most affected victims, primarily in Banwa province, were women, children, and the elderly.
One Fulani herder, aged 44, who lost eight family members in the violence, said thousands fled their villages hoping to find safety in neighboring Mali. “We had to cross areas controlled by the army and VDPs,” he recounted. “The VDPs fired at us as if we were animals, and drones flew overhead. Many women and children couldn’t escape and died.”
Escalating Conflict Under Military Rule
Burkina Faso has faced escalating violence and instability since the military took power in 2022. The junta’s struggle to secure control of the country—over 60 percent of which is believed to be outside state authority—has led to increased recruitment of civilian fighters, worsening interethnic tensions and contributing to cycles of violence and reprisals.
The government has not responded publicly to the latest HRW findings.
Source: Aljazeera
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