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The speed with which jihadist violence spread in Burkina Faso surprised many. By STR (AFP / File)
An alarming increase in jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso is increasingly threatening the security of three of its coastal neighbors, security sources and badysts say.
Benin, Ghana and Togo have so far been spared the Islamist violence that has hit their landlocked neighbor since 2015 – the fallout from instability in Mali, a refuge for al-Qaeda-linked groups and of the group called the Islamic State.
Yet the speed with which violence has spread in Burkina Faso has surprised many.
In recent months, attacks have occurred in the eastern region, on the border of Benin and Togo, raising fears that the jihadist bush fire in the Sahel is heading towards the coast.
Fears for security have increased since the badbadination of four Burkinabe customs officers and a Spanish priest who was returning from a meeting in Lome, the capital of Togo.
They were killed just after crossing the border.
Bakary Sambe, director of the Timbuktu Institute of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, said the upsurge of violence "suggests that Burkina Faso is the last hurdle these groups want to overcome to reach the coast."
Northern Ghana, Togo and Benin could become "ideal crossroads" for jihadists hiding in forested areas or isolated rural areas along the porous border, he added.
"In addition, expanding their area of operations away from the current epicenter of jihadism could allow them to access the sea via ports in West Africa" and eventually new weapons acquisition networks, he told AFP.
Border activity
Ghana and Togo have warned of attacks after armed Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) killed 19 people in the Ivorian resort of Grand-Bbadam in March 2016.
In the W Regional Park, which straddles Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso, a growing activist activity has been detected in recent years.
Police have been attacked in Burkina Faso. By AHMED OUOBA (AFP / File) The Thomas More Institute, a European think-tank, said this month that "fighters from Mali would have conducted a reconnaissance operation in 2014-2015 up to Benin".
Last December, four suspected jihadists from Burkina Faso, Mali and Ivory Coast were arrested in Mali on suspicion of preparing to attack the New Year celebrations.
Other sources report "recent incursions of small groups" from Burkina Faso into villages in northern Togo and Benin, where residents were asked to stop selling alcohol.
Radical messages have also been preached in mosques, they added.
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo and Benin conducted joint operations against banditry and cross-border crime last year, which resulted in the arrest of more than 200 people.
Several were suspected of jihadist activities.
Real threat
A senior Togolese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said military reinforcements had been sent to the north of the country since the death of the Spanish priest.
He gave no other details, but said about security in Burkina Faso: "The threat is real, everyone is on the alert.
"The Togolese and Beninese security forces are working closely with the Burkinabe.
A jihadist attack on a hotel in Ouagadougou in January 2016 killed 29 people, including foreigners. By ISSOUF SANOGO (AFP / File) "Patrols have been organized regularly lately in border villages, especially at night."
Colonel Eric Aggrey Quarshie, spokesman for the Ghanaian army, said the army was "at the top" of the northern border protection. "Everything is under control," he added, without elaborating.
However, Ghana's national disaster management organization said it was beginning to see the effects of violence in Burkina Faso.
In recent weeks, more than 300 people, including 176 children, have sought refuge in the Bawku region of northeastern Ghana.
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In Burkina Faso, most attacks are not claimed, but attributable to Ansarul Islam, the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM) or the Islamic State of the Greater Sahel (ISGS).
Ansarul Islam appeared near the Malian border in December 2016. JNIM swore allegiance to AQIM, while the ISGS was behind the deadly ambush of US troops in western Niger in 2017.
Rinaldo Depagne, project director for West Africa at the International Crisis Group, said that the exact nature of the relationship between these groups and others was not clear.
But he added that the militants exploited the "weak link" – the government of Ouagadougou, which does not have the means to face the problem by itself.
"The increase of fronts allows them to avoid the military response of Western armies and forces of the G5 Sahel group (Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad)," he added.
A broader geographic extension of activists is further complicated by the involvement of criminal groups that have long been operating in border areas.
They have joined the jihadists to cover their activities such as arms and drug trafficking or the illegal mining of gold.
Several badysts have said that poverty, illiteracy and the geographical remoteness of border areas could make it fertile ground for radical ideologies.
The same factors have favored the development of Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria.
strs-cl / phz / ri
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