Burkina Faso plunges into civil war as strategy to hire civilian militia backfires

Burkina Faso, once known for its tolerance and peaceful interethnic relations, is now at the centre of one of West Africa’s deadliest conflicts.

According to The New York Times report, Since Capt. Ibrahim Traoré took power in a 2022 coup, the country has been embroiled in an escalating war against Islamic insurgents, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and nearly 3 million people displaced.

In an effort to bolster his struggling military forces, Traoré’s government enlisted tens of thousands of men into a civilian militia called the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland.

Originally created by a previous leader to defend communities from insurgents, the militia under Traoré has spread unchecked violence, fueling tensions between local populations and leading to brutal attacks on minority ethnic groups. This has raised concerns among analysts that the country may be heading toward civil war, added the report.

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According to the report, citing data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, violence against local populations by militiamen has more than doubled since Traoré’s coup.

The militia has carried out executions, forced disappearances, and looting on average every six days.

Arming civilians who have poor training and little respect for human rights and then giving them near total impunity is not unique to Burkina Faso.

In northeast Nigeria, members of a civilian militia supporting the fight against Boko Haram have been accused of sexual violence, child recruitment, and summary executions.

In Sudan, the militia known as the Rapid Support Forces triggered a conflict that has resulted in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

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In both cases, the use of civilian militias to bolster military power has backfired, escalating violence, further endangering local populations, and fueling interethnic tensions, reported the New York Times.

One such instance of violence was experienced by Rainatou Diallo and her husband, Adama Diallo when they were dragged out of bed and into their courtyard in Burkina Faso.

Without a word, the men shot Adama dead. As Rainatou fled the village, engulfed by violence, she recognised her husband’s masked killers: they were neighbors.

Like Rainatou, most of the three dozen refugees interviewed by The New York Times during a recent 500-mile journey in neighboring Ivory Coast, near the Burkina Faso border, said they had been forced to flee by the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), who either evicted them or killed their relatives.

“They had been attacking other villages, so we knew our turn would come,” New York Times quoted Rainatou, 32, as saying on a recent morning in the town of Ouangolodougou, in northern Ivory Coast.

Since last year, nearly 150,000 people have fled Burkina Faso to neighboring countries, with Ivory Coast hosting the largest number — about 65,000 — at government-run asylum centers and in host communities.

Many Fulani civilians, often accused of collaborating with al-Qaida-linked insurgents, are disproportionately targeted by militias. Researchers have labeled the militia’s violence, and the state’s complicity, as “a public policy”, reported The New York Times.

There is a direct connection between the scaling up of the VDP under Traoré and the “targeting of Fulani populations and the massive influx of refugees in Ivory Coast,” Jean-Baptiste Zongo, an independent security analyst from Burkina Faso living in Ivory Coast, told The New York Times.

Refugees in Ivory Coast recounted their trauma in hushed tones, as rain pounded iron roofs. Twin brothers Housseinou and Hassan Ly, Quran teachers, fled northern Burkina Faso in September 2023 after militia abducted their uncle and killed their brother.

“Our country is in crisis, and the current authorities think that giving people weapons to kill an entire group is the solution,” NYT quoted Ali Barry, 30, a Fulani nurse who said he fled his village in December 2022 after militiamen executed several neighbors and his brother, as saying.

Even in the relative safety of Ivory Coast, refugees live in dire conditions. The World Food Program has halved a monthly stipend — to $7.50 from $15 per registered refugee in Ivory Coast — because of dwindling funds. Most refugee children do not go to school.

With inputs from agencies