Burkina Faso: chronology of jihadist violence since 2015
"Our hearts are bleeding for Solhan" headlines the Burkinabè newspaper L'Observateur Paalga, Monday June 7, 2021. © AFP - OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT
Text by: Tirthankar Chanda Follow |
Victor Mauriat
8 mins
An armed attack, killing between 138 and 160 people according to sources, again mourned Burkina Faso on the night of June 4 to 5, 2021. This terrorist assault, the deadliest that the Burkinabè have known, is the last of a long series which began in 2015. A look back at the main stages of the plunge of this Sahelian people into chaos and horror.
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After having been spared by jihadist violence, Burkina Faso has been overtaken by the terror and death that radical Islamist groups have reigned in Sahelian countries for a decade. Since the first combined attacks of the Capuccino restaurant and the Splendid hotel in Ouagadougou in 2016, the “
country of upright men
” has in turn entered a murderous spiral whose end we do not see.
The massacre in the village of Solhan,
in the northeast, which took place on the night of June 4 to 5, 2021, constitutes a new stage in the plunge into the horror of this country. This killing which left between 138 and 160 dead according to sources is the deadliest attack that Burkina has known since the first attacks in 2016.
Asked about the RFI antenna two years ago, Alain Antil, researcher specializing in security issues in the Sahel, explained that if Burkina Faso had been spared from terrorism during the reign of Blaise Compaoré (1987-2014), c 'was because the latter had "
direct links
" with jihadist groups with whom he had negotiated to preserve his country.
Since the overthrow of the former president, Burkina is no longer an exception in the region. This country is now regularly the scene of bloody attacks. These attacks are attributed to the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), a subsidiary of al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara (EIGSD), the two major jihadist groups operating in the north of Burkina, near the border with Mali and Niger, even if, as researcher Alain Antil reminds us, 80% of the attacks in Burkina Faso are not claimed.
In any case, in five years, the terrorist attacks have left more than 1,400 people dead and more than a million internally displaced.
Whole swathes of Burkinabè national territory are today inaccessible.
We remember that the presidential election of 2020 could only be held on 85% of the national territory, with more than 1,500 villages out of 8,000 not having been able to be enrolled.
2016: stupor in Ouagadougou
The first such attack, the double attack targeting the Splendid hotel and the Capuccino restaurant, in the heart of the Burkinabè capital, left its mark. These attacks, which occurred on the evening of January 15 and claimed the following day by AQIM, left 30 dead, mainly in the ranks of Western expatriates. Unprecedented at the time, these attacks did not surprise observers, however, who expected Burkina Faso to become the new target of the jihadists, after Niger and Mali. Especially since this country is participating in
the French military operation Barkhane
, launched in the wake of the Serval intervention and intended to fight the jihadists in the Sahel. Moreover, the north of Burkina Faso was since the first quarter of 2015 the theater of jihadist attacks.
A French policeman inspects a burnt out vehicle in front of the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, January 17, 2016. © REUTERS / Joe Penney
2018: France targeted by terrorists
On March 2, Ouagadougou was again under fire, with armed attacks targeting the French embassy and the Burkina Faso armed forces staff.
These attacks result in eight deaths among the police: two gendarmes in front of the French embassy and six soldiers in the headquarters area, which is hit by a car bomb, stuffed with explosives.
According to the authorities at the time, the attack was aimed at the meeting on the G5 Sahel hosted by the Burkinabè army staff building that day.
Bullets hit the wall of the French embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the day after the attack on the embassy and the Burkinabè headquarters, in which around ten people were killed.
March 3, 2018 © AFP - AHMED OUOBA
2019: the horror in Yirgou
On January 1, 2019, after the assassination of the village chief of Yirgou, located in the province of Sanmatenga, Fulani were targeted by Mossi villagers, helped by members of their self-defense group, the Koglweogo. On January 12, thousands of people from all communities demonstrate in Ouagadougou to denounce ethnic violence in Yirgou and demand the dissolution of the self-defense group involved in the killings. The organizers of the march also claim that the death toll is higher than indicated in the official toll, reporting 72 dead and 6,000 displaced. The government's record is contested by the Collective against impunity and the stigmatization of communities, which claims on February 1 that the massacres left 210 dead.
Demonstration, in front of the court of Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, on June 22, 2019, to demand "truth and justice" for the victims of the attack in Yirgou, in the north of Burkina Faso, which killed 49 people on January 1 2019. © AFP - OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT
2019 continued: Burkina's gold in the sights of terrorists
It is a particularly murderous year for the Burkinabè soldiers. On August 19, 24 soldiers were killed in an attack on an army base in Koutougou, in the north of the country. The army came under yet another attack in December when the town of Arabinda, near the Malian border, was stormed by heavily armed jihadists. The increase in jihadist attacks targeting the army is pushing the opposition to demand the resignation of the government, deemed incapable of dealing with the deterioration of the security situation in the country.
In November, 38 people were killed and 63 injured in a bloody attack on a convoy carrying workers from the gold mine in Boungo, in the east.
The aim of the attack is to disrupt, according to specialists, the gold mining activity, which is an important source of income for the country.
2020: civilians massacred in cold blood
On January 25, Burkina Faso is again in mourning with the killing perpetrated by terrorists in the market in the village of Silgadji, in the north of the country.
To the 39 people killed during the attack, are added to the forty civilians killed a week before in the villages of Nagraogo and Alamou.
2021: the heavy toll of the VDPs on the anti-jihadist fight
Burkina Faso continues its descent into the abyss of terrorist violence, with the attack attributed to jihadists in the village of Solhan, which, according to the latest reports, has left between 138 and 160 dead.
It is the deadliest attack that this country has experienced since the start of jihadist violence in 2015-2016.
Buildings destroyed in the village of Solhan, victim of an attack on the night of June 4 to 5, 2021. Photo taken on June 7, 2021. © via REUTERS - PRIME MINISTER'S PRESS SERVICE
This time, the attacks particularly targeted the
Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland
, the VDP.
Composed of civilian auxiliaries from the army, this paramilitary body was created in December 2019 with the green light from the National Parliament.
The VDPs participate in surveillance, information and protection missions alongside the armed forces.
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