In a two-page press release issued on Thursday (September 5th), JNIM (a support group for Islam and Muslims ) , an al-Qaeda affiliate in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), is specifically threatening the government of Burkina Faso with its participation in G5 Sahel efforts to counter jihadist groups in the region.
These threats are coupled with a claim of the August 30th attack on Tongomayel targeting the country's armed forces. Despite Barkhane's efforts and the growing involvement of several African and European countries, the situation in the Sahel in general and in northern Burkina Faso in particular has been steadily deteriorating since 2016.
"Jihadists are implanted in rural areas where the state is absent and recruit among these rural populations thanks to it or thanks to the actions of the army and the administrations sometimes assimilated to the enemies of the rural ones. grievances of people in these areas, "says Wassim Nasr, journalist specializing in jihadist issues at France 24.
For four and a half years, Burkina Faso, a poor country in West Africa, has been caught in a spiral of violence attributed to armed jihadist groups. According to an AFP count, these attacks have killed 550 people since 2015.