Burkina Faso: a civil society organization warns of the increase in abuses
General view of the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou.
REUTERS/Joe Penney/Files
Text by: RFI Follow
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In Burkina Faso, the Collective Against Impunity and Community Stigmatization (CISC), a civil society organization, alerts the authorities to a worrying increase in violence, in particular some perpetrated by civilians "who claim to be volunteers for the defense of the fatherland”.
According to its press release, the CISC explains that it has been regularly contacted in recent times “for several cases of flagrant violations of human rights”.
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Executions, kidnappings, expropriations, looting... The list of abuses mentioned by the CISC is long.
These abuses partly involve terrorists, but also for several weeks, civilians considered as
volunteers for the defense of the homeland (VDP).
The committee evokes several events of the month of December.
On Friday the 30th, for example, after the attack by armed men on the VDP headquarters in Nouna in the loop of Mouhoun, in the west of the country, armed civilians engaged in violent reprisals.
The committee establishes an initial assessment of 21 civilian victims, including children.
Between December 15 and 22, the municipalities of Lorépeni in the south-west, Kongoussi in the center-north and Gourcy in the north experienced similar
violence
.
The CISC denounces "
targeted abuses against a background of stigma
".
He asks the authorities to pay “
particular attention
”.
"
Terrorist groups surf on this type of abuse to ensure their recruitment
", warns the CISC, which fears that such abuses will compromise the security advances recently made, such as the liberation of Solenzo, in the Boucle du Mouhoun.
Contacted by RFI, the staff did not wish to comment.
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