A sweeping new report by Human Rights Watch has documented the deaths of more than 1,800 civilians in Burkina Faso since 2023, attributing the killings to government forces, their allied militias, and jihadist armed groups alike — describing the situation as crimes against humanity committed by all parties to the conflict.
The 120-page report, titled “None Can Run Away” and released on April 2nd, details a pattern of atrocities that HRW says amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The documented killings represent what the organisation describes as a systematic failure to protect civilian populations caught between two violent forces.
What the Report Found
HRW’s researchers documented killings by state security forces and their volunteer defence corps (VDPs) — government-armed community militias — as well as by Al-Qaeda-linked armed groups including Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM). The organisation said both sides had carried out attacks on villages, summary executions, and forced displacements that together have devastated communities across the Sahel nation.
The report found that government forces and their allies were responsible for a substantial proportion of the civilian deaths, despite official government statements positioning the military as a protector of the population. HRW documented specific incidents in which soldiers and VDP fighters killed villagers on suspicion of sympathy for armed groups — sometimes entire families — without any apparent military justification.
Armed Islamists, for their part, targeted civilians in markets, on roads, and in villages, frequently employing mass killing as a tactic of terror.
Burkina Faso Rejects Findings
The government of military leader Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power in 2022 and has twice extended the transition to civilian rule, strongly rejected the HRW findings. A government statement described the report as “unfounded” and accused HRW of bias, pointing to previous bans on foreign media organisations that had published critical coverage of the junta.
The government has increasingly shut down space for dissent and independent journalism, banning several international news outlets in recent months.
A Country on Its Knees
Burkina Faso has been engulfed in a brutal insurgency since 2016, when jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State began mounting attacks. The conflict has displaced more than two million people and caused widespread destruction of infrastructure, schools, and healthcare facilities. Millions more face acute food insecurity, with the UN estimating that 21 million people across the Sahel will require emergency food assistance in 2026.
HRW called on the international community to press for accountability and to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches affected populations without interference from any party to the conflict.
Sources: Human Rights Watch, BBC Africa, France24, Reuters, DW, Shia Waves