APA-Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) The Burkinabe prosecutor at the tribunal of first instance in Ouahigouya, Lamine Kabore, has announced the start of an investigation into allegedly egregious human rights violations on civilians by members of the army.
Some 60 civilians were executed on Friday, April 21, 2023, in the village of Karma (Northern Province of Yatenga,) the prosecutor said.
He reported that the wounded were treated in the health centres, while the perpetrators carted away property belonging to the villagers.
In his statement, Lamine Kabore explained that the attack was committed by “people wearing the uniforms of our national armed forces.”
“At about 7:30 a.m., hundreds of men in military uniform surrounded the village. The people began to applaud, because they considered them to be saviours. But these soldiers came with a mission that only God
knows. They killed almost half of the village,” one resident told Libération newspaper.
According to the French media outlet, residents were gathered in the yards of concessions before being shot “at point blank range” or sometimes in their homes, some of which were set on fire. Others were executed while “picking mangoes.”
Announcing the opening of a judicial investigation into the alleged killings, Kabore also launched a call for witnesses to the events.
“My Public Prosecutor’s Office, seized of these facts, the seriousness of which is proven, has given the necessary instructions to the investigative sub-unit to carry out all acts in order to elucidate them and to arrest all persons involved,” said the prosecutor of the tribunal first Instance of Ouahigouya said².
The Burkinabe army has recently been accused of abuses against civilians.
Human rights organisations, such as the Committee to Combat Community Stigmatisation (CISC), regularly report
abductions and extrajudicial executions.
The government has consistently denied these allegations against the Defense and Security Forces (FDS), dismissing them as part of a strategy of “manipulation and disinformation (by armed terrorist groups) especially when they are cornered.
DS/ac/fss/as/APA