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The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reported that at least 480 civilians were killed in jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso between May and August this year. Thousands of other people displaced by the conflict are also of concern.
The NGO is also alarmed at the increase in the number of displaced people in recent months, with more than 275,000 people “forced to flee a new outbreak of violence” since April.
According to the NRC, an average of 55,000 people have been forced to flee their homes each month since April, nearly three times the average monthly figure between October 2020 and March 2021.
In total, more than 1.4 million people have been forced to leave their homes in Burkina Faso as a result of the attacks.
“The slowness and insufficiency of the humanitarian response force people to choose between insecurity and hunger,” the NRC also warned in a statement.
The NGO pointed to the “impossible choice” of some families: “Staying in a besieged area where food shortages have become so critical that there are only leaves to eat or walk for days in search of food and risk being attacked “.
He called on the government to allow him to provide support in the most affected areas.
The north of the country has been particularly vulnerable, an area “on three borders” where Burkina Faso meets Mali and Niger, a hub of jihadist activities in recent years.
“Relief organizations have the capacity to help people in the most inaccessible areas where aid is urgent,” said Manenji Mangundu, director of NRC in Burkina.
However, the violence is spreading to other pockets of the country. According to an official, nearly 2,000 people arrived in Mangodara last week, in the southwest, near the border with Côte d’Ivoire, after violence forced them to flee their villages. Some have even gotten into the habit of crossing the Comoé to avoid using the roads.
Child trafficking
In another development, authorities in Burkina Faso said they saved 374 children between January and March from being trafficked to neighboring countries to work in agriculture or small-scale mining.
“For some time now, this phenomenon affecting children has taken on worrying proportions in our country,” Hélène Marie Laurence Ilboudo, Minister of Humanitarian Action, told reporters after the government published the figures on Monday.
Last year, 2,318 children were intercepted during checks on buses or by denunciation, according to the ministry.
Most were under 16 and were destined to work in plantations, artisanal mines or for domestic work in countries neighboring Burkina Faso.
Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa producer, is a major destination for child trafficking and has also intercepted and repatriated minors used for labor in the fields, the ministry said.
In addition, 58 children found by security forces during various operations were handed over to social services, Ilboudo said, also highlighting the scale of the problem of homeless children living in the streets.
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