L'armée burkinabè, ses supplétifs et des jihadistes ont tué plus de 1.800 civils depuis 2023, selon HRW
The Burkinabe army, its civilian auxiliaries and Al-Qaeda's Sahelian branch have killed more than 1,800 civilians since 2023, acts of "war crimes and crimes against humanity", Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report published Thursday.
The Burkinabe junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré since a coup in September 2022, has been unable to stem the violence of jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization, which has caused thousands of deaths over the past decade.
"The abuses committed by government forces, including the VDP, and by JNIM (Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims) constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity," HRW stated, calling on the International Criminal Court to open a preliminary examination on the "situation in Burkina Faso."
The military regime relies on the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDP), civilians recruited to assist the defence and security forces in the fight against jihadism.
The Burkinabe army, the VDP and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM killed "at least 1,837 civilians in 11 regions of the country between January 2023 and August 2025", including dozens of children, in "57 incidents", Human Rights Watch documented in its report.
The NGO attributes 1,255 civilian deaths, including 193 children, between January 2023 and April 2025 to the Burkinabe army and the VDP, and blames JNIM for the deaths of 582 civilians, including 15 children, between January 2023 and August 2025.
The NGO says it relied on open sources and interviewed more than 450 people remotely and physically in Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Mali in order to document these "abuses".
During one of the deadliest attacks, the Burkinabe army and VDP "killed more than 400 civilians in December 2023 in about fifteen villages near the northern town of Djibo," notes HRW.
"My two daughters died instantly," a 35-year-old woman told HRW, adding that she heard a VDP say, "Make sure no one is still breathing before you leave."
HRW also accuses JNIM of targeting civilians who refused to submit to its authority or whom it accused of supporting government forces.
On August 24, 2024, the group, for example, "killed at least 133 civilians, including dozens of children, in the town of Barsalogho, in the center of the country, accusing the entire community of supporting the VDP," according to the NGO.
"People were dropping like flies. They came to exterminate us. They spared no one," a 39-year-old man told HRW.
The NGO concludes that Captain Ibrahim Traoré, in his capacity as "president of the transition and supreme commander of the armed forces" of Burkina Faso, should be subject to an "impartial investigation" to establish his criminal responsibility, under the command responsibility, in the serious crimes under international law attributed to the army and the VDP.
Six other high-ranking officials, including Burkina Faso's ambassador to Washington and former defense minister, General Kassoum Coulibaly, the current defense minister, General Célestin Simporé, and the chief of the general staff of the armed forces, General Moussa Diallo, should also be investigated in order to establish their criminal responsibility in the documented abuses, according to HRW.
Furthermore, Iyad Ag Ghaly and Amadou Kouffa, leaders of JNIM, as well as Jafar Dicko, Ousmane Dicko and Abou Hanifa, local leaders, should also be subject to "impartial investigations" in order to establish their criminal responsibility, under the command responsibility, for the documented serious international crimes, according to the NGO.
Human Rights Watch finally calls on Burkina Faso's partners to impose sanctions and refrain from cooperating with the Burkinabe army.
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