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Apr 03, 2026

Human Rights Watch Accuses Burkina Faso Military and Allies of War Crimes, Citing Over 1,200 Civilian Deaths

AI Summary
A new Human Rights Watch report documents 57 verified incidents of war crimes by Burkina Faso’s military, allied militias and the JNIM insurgent group, resulting in 1,837 civilian deaths—over 1,200 attributed to government forces—and displacing roughly two million people, prompting calls for investigations of senior commanders and the junta leader.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a comprehensive report titled None Can Run Away, concluding that Burkina Faso’s military, its allied Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDPs), and the al‑Qaeda‑linked Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wa al‑Muslimin (JNIM) have perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity since the coup that brought the junta to power in September 2022.

Through in‑person and telephone interviews with more than 450 witnesses across Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Mali, HRW verified 57 distinct incidents involving wilful killing, attacks on civilians and civilian objects, pillage, looting, and forced displacement.

The report estimates that 1,837 civilians were killed between January 2023 and August 2025, with over 1,200 deaths directly linked to government forces. The United Nations estimates that the conflict has displaced approximately two million people, underscoring a humanitarian crisis of regional magnitude.

Among the deadliest attacks, the military and VDP militias slaughtered more than 400 civilians across 16 villages near the northern town of Djibo in December 2023. In November 2023, allied militias killed 13 Fulani civilians—including six women and four children—in the western village of Basse, employing methods described by survivors as “blindfolded, hands tied, and riddled with bullets.”

JNIM’s own atrocities were highlighted by the August 24, 2024 massacre in Barsalogho, where at least 133 civilians, many of them children, were shot indiscriminately.

HRW’s findings point to a systematic targeting of the Fulani ethnic group, whom the junta accuses of supporting armed insurgents, resulting in what the report characterises as an ethnic cleansing of entire communities.

HRW calls for urgent investigations into President Ibrahim Traoré, the supreme commander of the armed forces, and six senior military commanders for “grave abuses.” The organization also urges scrutiny of Iyad Ag Ghaly, JNIM’s supreme leader wanted by the International Criminal Court, and four of his commanders under the principle of command responsibility.

“The scale of atrocities taking place in Burkina Faso is mind‑boggling, as is the lack of global attention to this crisis,” said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of HRW. “The junta is committing horrific abuses itself, failing to hold those responsible on all sides to account, and curtailing reporting to obscure the suffering of civilians caught in the violence.”

Survivors recount harrowing details: a 41‑year‑old father described his son’s body “shot in the back of the neck,” while a 39‑year‑old witness to the Barsalogho attack said, “People were falling like flies. They came to exterminate us. They did not spare anyone.”

These revelations amplify calls from the international community for accountability and for renewed humanitarian assistance to the millions displaced by the protracted Sahel conflict.