Burkina Faso says about 170 ‘executed’ in attacks

Bengaluru — About 170 people were “executed” in attacks on three villages in northern Burkina Faso a week ago, a regional prosecutor said in a statement seen on Sunday.

The attacks by unknown assailants were carried out on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soro in the Yatenga province, the statement dated March 1 said, adding that an investigation had been launched.

The West African Sahel nation has been struggling to contain violent jihadist insurgencies linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State that have spread from neighbouring Mali over the past decade, killing thousands and displacing more than 2-million.

Head of state Ibrahim Traore has prioritised a strong security response in reclaiming areas from the rebel groups and has ordered air strikes. Frustration over the growing insecurity also spurred two military coups in 2022.

Last month, in a bid to take back control of the country's small-scale gold operations, the junta suspended export permits for artisanal and semi-mechanised gold and other precious commodities.

“This suspension follows the need to clean up the sector and reflects the government’s desire to better organise the marketing of gold and other precious substances,” it said in a statement dated February 20.

It did not say how long the suspension would be in place. 

Gold is Burkina Faso’s main export, accounting for 37% of total exports in 2020, and mining is a leading source of jobs. 

Artisanal production amounts to almost half of gold in West Africa’s Sahel region, which includes Burkina Faso, according to a 2019 Crisis Group report.

Between 10 tonnes and 30 tonnes of gold are artisanally mined in Burkina Faso with an estimated 1-million people involved in the sector, it said.

Reuters