Burkina Faso’s military government has ordered the dissolution of 118 NGOs and civil society associations in a sweeping crackdown that human rights groups say represents a dramatic intensification of the repression that has accelerated under the Ibrahim Traore government since his rise to power in a 2022 coup. The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Mobility announced the decision on Wednesday, April 15, citing compliance with a controversial law governing the operations of rights groups and trade unions signed by Traore last July.
The banned organisations include many of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders and humanitarian groups. Rights monitors say the move marks a decisive break with any pretence of civic openness, and represents the most aggressive assault on civil society since the coup that brought the military to power. Wednesday’s statement by Territorial Administration Minister Emile Zerbo invited the heads of the newly banned associations to conform to the July 2025 law, warning that any offender would face penalties under current regulations.
Amnesty International condemned the move as a flagrant attack on the right to freedom of association. “Dissolving NGOs and associations is at odds with the constitution of Burkina Faso and entirely inconsistent with Burkina Faso’s international human rights obligations,” said Ousmane Diallo, Amnesty’s senior researcher for the Sahel region. Diallo described the action as part of a broader pattern that includes abusive legislation, intimidation, arbitrary detention, and the prosecution of human rights defenders and activists.
The dissolution is the latest in a series of actions that have progressively dismantled civic space in Burkina Faso. Last November, all national and international NGOs were ordered to close their commercial bank accounts and transfer them to a newly created state-controlled bank — a move widely interpreted as an attempt to monitor and control NGO funding flows. In January, all political parties were dissolved following three years of suspension. Earlier this month, Traore himself told citizens that they must “forget about” democracy.
Burkina Faso is fighting a deadly insurgency by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL that has killed thousands and displaced more than two million people. The government has frequently accused international NGOs of colluding with insurgent groups — allegations rights organisations strongly deny, pointing out that humanitarian workers have been targets of the same violence as the civilian population. The junta’s supporters argue that extraordinary security circumstances require extraordinary measures. Critics say the crackdown is as much about eliminating political opposition as it is about addressing the insurgency.
The international community has so far offered limited public response to the escalation. Western governments, already navigating complex relationships with Sahel military governments as they seek to maintain some degree of influence in a region increasingly oriented toward Russia and Iran, have been measured in their condemnation. For ordinary Burkinabe civil society activists, the immediate concern is more urgent: the organisations that provided vital services to communities under attack from multiple directions now face forced closure, leaving those same communities even more exposed.
Sources: Al Jazeera (April 17, 2026), Africanews (April 16, 2026), Amnesty International, Reuters