Burkina Faso: Government-Allied Militias Linked to Massacre

Pro-government militias in Burkina Faso are implicated in video footage circulating on social networks showing the massacre of dozens of civilians in and around the western city of Solenzo on March 10 and 11, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should impartially investigate and appropriately prosecute all those responsible for serious crimes.

Human Rights Watch reviewed 11 videos that circulated on social networks starting on March 11, which showed dozens of dead men, women, and children, as well as dozens of others alive, some with visible injuries, with their hands and feet bound. In the videos, armed men are standing by or walking among the bodies, instructing, and in some cases insulting, those being detained. The armed men are wearing identifiable uniforms of local militias known as Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie (Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland, or VDPs). Some wear green T-shirts reading “Groupe d’autodéfense de Mahouna” (Mahouna Self-Defense Group) and “Force Rapide de Kouka” (Kouka Rapid Force), two local militia groups in Mahouna and Kouka localities in Banwa province, whose capital is Solenzo.

“The gruesome videos of an apparent massacre by pro-government militias in Burkina Faso underscore the pervasive lack of accountability of these forces,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Burkinabè authorities should take immediate action to end militia group attacks on civilians by punishing those responsible for atrocities like in Solenzo.”

Based on video analysis, media reports, and local sources, most victims appear to be ethnic Fulani. Sources said that on March 10 and 11, security forces and allied militias carried out large-scale operations in the Solenzo countryside and targeted displaced Fulani in apparent retaliatory attacks against the community, which the government has long accused of supporting Islamist fighters. Islamist armed groups in Burkina Faso have concentrated their recruitment efforts on the Fulani by exploiting their frustrations over government corruption and competition over natural resources.

Burkinabè authorities have not issued any public communication about the videos—which have had thousands of views—or about military operations in Solenzo. Human Rights Watch was not able to confirm the exact locations where the videos were recorded.

One 29-second video shared on Telegram on March 12 shows a dead woman bleeding from the head on the ground alongside a toddler in apparently critical condition lying face-up in the dirt. The man filming can be heard saying in Mooré, a language widely spoken in Burkina Faso: “It’s the work of your parents that brought you here. You think you can get all of Burkina Faso. This is your end.”

Another video, two minutes and eight seconds long, shows a young woman who appears to be seriously injured on the ground and a toddler next to her about 2 years old. Two male voices can be heard speaking in Mooré and asking the woman: “You say you can’t stand up—do you want us to leave with your child? Why don’t you stand up?” The woman replies that she’s in pain.

Someone off camera says: “You, the Fulani people, do you think you can take over Burkina Faso? You will never! What is left for you to do here is to disappear. Where are those holding weapons?” The woman replies that she does not know, and one of the two male voices says “How come you don’t know? We will finish you.” At the end of the video, a man picks up the child.

In a 33-second video, men armed with knives and guns throw a man still alive onto a three-wheel vehicle loaded with what appears to be at least 10 bodies of men and women. Some armed men celebrate as the vehicle drives off.

Human Rights Watch counted 58 people who appear to be dead or dying in the videos, a conservative estimate as some bodies were piled atop others. Two bodies appear to be of children. In one video, a man is alive, speaking to the gunmen. In another, the same man appears to be dead, his body thrown into the back of the three-wheel vehicle. In another video, 4 people, including a young child, are alive, surrounded by about 35 dead or dying people. Human Rights Watch could not confirm what happened to them.

International news outlets AFP, RFI, and Jeune Afrique reported on the killings in the days after March 11.

Islamist armed groups in Burkina Faso have been responsible for numerous grave abuses, including killing and the forced displacement of civilians. The Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM) has repeatedly attacked civilians as well as government security forces and VDP militias in Banwa province.

The nongovernmental organization Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) reported that on October 31, 2024, the JNIM killed 51 civilians in Ban village, 15 kilometers from Solenzo, in apparent retaliation against the local community accused of joining the VDPs. ACLED also reported that on November 21, the JNIM attacked VDPs in Baye village, 12 kilometers from Solenzo, killing 17 militia members. On November 25, Solenzo residents protested over growing insecurity. The protest turned violent, and the crowd killed the village chief.

In response to the growing presence of armed Islamist groups, the Burkinabè security forces and VDPs have carried out military operations in Banwa province. On January 2, 2025, President Ibrahim Traoré appointed Captain Papa Parfait Kambou commander of the Rapid Intervention Battalion 18 (Bataillon d’Intervention Rapide, or BIR-18), a special force involved in counterinsurgency operations, which, according to the official Burkinabè news agency, is based in Solenzo.

Human Rights Watch has documented that Burkinabè armed forces and VDPs have committed widespread abuses during counterinsurgency operations across the country, including unlawful killings of Fulani civilians whom they accuse of supporting Islamist fighters.

“Every jihadist attack comes with a reprisal,” said an ethnic Fulani man who fled the Solenzo area over a year ago. “Being a Fulani today is synonymous with being a terrorist…. My family members are still around Bèna [16 kilometers from Solenzo], and I fear some of them might have been attacked, too.”

All parties to the armed conflict in Burkina Faso are bound by international humanitarian law, which includes Common Article 3 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law. Common Article 3 prohibits murder, torture, and ill-treatment of civilians and captured fighters. Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent are responsible for war crimes. Commanders who knew or should have known about serious abuses by their forces and do not take appropriate action may be prosecuted as a matter of command responsibility.

“As the armed conflict in Burkina Faso enters its ninth year, security forces and their allied militias and Islamist armed groups are committing serious crimes against an exhausted population without fear of consequence,” Allegrozzi said. “A concerted response by the authorities to the information implicating the militias in Solenzo would send a message that the government takes ending impunity seriously.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The post Burkina Faso: Government-Allied Militias Linked to Massacre first appeared on Future Media News.

The post Burkina Faso: Government-Allied Militias Linked to Massacre appeared first on Future Media News.