This year, Human Rights Watch has recorded an astounding number of civilian deaths in Burkina Faso in a single day. Their inquiry revealed that the nation’s military was suspected of committing atrocities against over 220 civilians, including at least 56 children.
The incidents occurred on February 25. 179 people lost their lives in the village of Soro, and 44 more people died in the nearby town of Nondin. According to Human Rights Watch, these mass executions are among the army’s most heinous crimes in almost a decade.
The Burkina Faso government has said nothing about these horrifying deeds, despite the report’s illumination of them.
Nonetheless, public prosecutor Aly Benjamin Coulibaly, who initially estimated that 170 people had died in the massacre, has publicly called on witnesses to come forward and help identify those guilty.
Witness accounts gave a terrifying description of the military’s attack. Survivors described how, soon after Islamist fighters had passed through the region, a convoy of more than a hundred soldiers arrived in Nondin village. Nobody was spared as the soldiers methodically drove the peasants out of their houses, grouped them, and opened fire ruthlessly, even on those who were trying to flee.
These horrific killings have been characterized by the military as revenge against villagers who are alleged to have assisted Islamist fighters after insurgent troops in the northern Yatenga region attacked a nearby military camp.
