ALERT. They were kidnapped Thursday and Friday by suspected jihadists in Arbinda, in the north. This is the first kidnapping of this magnitude in this country.
Through Africa Point (With AFP)
© Philippe ROY / Aurimages via AFP
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LResearch is still underway to find around fifty women kidnapped on Thursday and Friday in two localities north and west of the town of Arbinda, located in the north of the country, by suspected jihadists. “As soon as they were reported missing, research was undertaken to find all of these innocent victims, safe and sound,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Rodolphe Sorgho, governor of the Sahel region, in a press release. “All means are implemented, on the ground and air, to find these women”, indicated to AFP a security source, assuring that “aircraft fly over the area to detect any suspicious movement”.
Arbinda and its surroundings are regularly the scene of deadly jihadist attacks (80 dead in August 2021, 42 at the end of 2019). But kidnappings of such magnitude, in particular targeting women, are a novelty in Burkina, according to several observers.
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What we know
According to the testimony of several residents and local officials wishing to remain anonymous, a first group of about forty women was kidnapped on Thursday, and another of about twenty the next day. Some were able to escape and return to their villages to testify, around fifty did not return. “We believe that the kidnappers took them to their different bases,” said a resident of Arbinda. “This is the first massive kidnapping since the start of the security crisis and this situation will have to be managed well to avoid any tragedy or a recurrence”, declared for his part a senior officer, close to the staff.
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A city under blockade
The commune of Arbinda is located in the Sahel region, an area under blockade by jihadist groups and which is hardly supplied with food. Nearly a million people currently live in areas under blockade, in the north or east of the country, according to the United Nations. Burkina Faso, particularly in its northern half, has been confronted since 2015 with increasing attacks by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. They left thousands dead and at least two million displaced. Captain Ibrahim Traoré, transitional president resulting from a military coup on September 30 – the second in eight months – has set himself the objective of “reconquering the territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists”.
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Massive kidnappings, a new strategy for armed groups?
“This is the first time that we have seen the kidnapping of several dozen women. We had recorded isolated cases, but today it is as if there was a new situation in insecurity”, abounds Daouda Diallo, secretary general of the Collective against impunity and the stigmatization of communities, an association of defense of human rights.
“Before, women were spared. It was the men who were hunted down. If we now remove these women who could go out to bring something to eat, what will happen? It’s guaranteed death for everyone, because it’s famine right now. We have nothing to eat,” said a resident of Arbinda, contacted by AFP on Monday. “Since the news of the kidnapping spread, no one dares to venture out of town. If it’s not the terrorists, it’s hunger that will kill us,” adds another resident.
On Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of all the abducted women”, calling on the Burkinabe authorities to “quickly carry out an effective, impartial and independent investigation. to identify those responsible and hold them accountable.
France on Monday condemned this kidnapping “with the greatest firmness”, and called “for their immediate release”. In a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris reaffirmed “its solidarity as well as its commitment alongside Burkina Faso”.
We remember that in Nigeria, in 2014, the jihadist group Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 teenage girls in Chibok (north-east), arousing worldwide emotion with the slogan “Bring Back Our Girls” (“Bring Back Our Girls “), relayed at the time to the White House. Over a hundred are still missing.
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