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Over the months, the threat grew closer. Today, it hits northern Togo. On Saturday July 16, the Togolese army and government confirmed that coordinated attacks carried out two days earlier by “armed individuals” against four villages in the Savanes region, at the northern end of the country, caused deaths and injuries among the population. According to testimonies collected by AFP from several human rights defenders, at least twelve civilians were killed.
After denouncing acts “cowards” and “criminals”the government encouraged residents to “ remain more mobilized” and to “maintain heightened vigilance “. The concern is strong. “People live in fear of a new attack, wrote the site on Sunday Togo Scoop Info. The villages of Borgou, Yiegou and Ogaro are emptying… Only the elderly are still staying. “People have to stay at home, insists on the World Christian Trimua, government spokesperson. Their departure would make the bed of these terrorists who have not yet been identified. »
Long spared from attacks, unlike neighboring Benin where they have been regular since 2019, Togo today appears to be a target for armed groups, in particular the jihadists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), present in southern Burkina Faso. Since November 2021, four attacks have targeted the north of this small country in the Gulf of Guinea. In May, an ambush claimed by GSIM, the branch of Al-Qaeda in Mali, claimed the lives of eight soldiers.
Highwaymen, poachers and traffickers
Within the Togolese troops, nerves are on edge. On the night of July 9 to 10, an explosion caused by soldiers killed seven children. The army justified itself by asserting that it had received reports of infiltrations by armed gangs into the territory. “ An aircraft on night patrol inadvertently targeted a group of people whom it mistook for a jihadist column on the move,” recognized Lieutenant-Colonel Sama Soussou, spokesperson for the armed forces.
Nearly 700 soldiers patrol today along the border with Burkina Faso
In June, the government declared a state of emergency in the Savanes region and stepped up surveillance to try to prevent attackers from infiltrating and then mixing with the population. “New measures will be announced at the end of the week”, warns Christian Trimua. Nearly 700 soldiers are now patrolling the 100 km long border with Burkina. They are deployed as part of the “Koundjaoré” operation, launched in 2018 to secure the area. Bordered to the east by Benin and to the west by Ghana, it is today crossed by tracks regularly used by highway robbers, poachers and traffickers of arms or gold, an important resource for jihadists.
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