Roundup on Recent Attacks in Northern and Eastern Burkina Faso, and a Bit of Context

Here is just part of what has been occurring in Burkina Faso (drawing on reports here and here), namely three attacks from over the weekend:

• May 29, on the road between Titao and Sollé, Louroum Province, Nord Region: At least 15 people killed, and others kidnapped, in an attack on traders.
• May 30, Kompienbiga, Kompienga Province, Est Region: Gunmen entered a livestock market and killed at least 25 people.
• May 30, on the road between Barsalogho-Foubé, Sanmatenga Province, Centre-Nord Region: At least 10 people killed in an attack on a humanitarian convoy. (See here for my post on a recent convoy traveling to Djibo.)

Here is a map showing, from west to east, Titao, Barsalogho, and Pama (capital of Kompienga Province, near Kompienbiga).

MENASTREAM has a Twitter thread on the Kompienbiga attack, starting here:

#BurkinaFaso: A massacre reported in Kompienbiga, #Kompienga (Est), unknown gunmen targeted the cattle market, early reports speak of dozens/scores dead https://t.co/62HSfGtSyY

— MENASTREAM (@MENASTREAM) May 30, 2020

For some context on the situation in the East, Le Monde‘s Sophie Douce has a new report out on villages under jihadist sway. Douce discusses the factors that have made the situation so severe in the east – the physical difficulties of access for security forces, the sharp degradation in security in 2019, the ethnic tensions (for example between Peul and Gourmantché), the exactions committed by security forces, and on and on. She notes  that “anger is rising” over the deaths of 12 Peul detainees who appear to have been summarily executed at the gendarmerie in Tanwalbougou, Eastern Region (approximately 150 kilometers north of Pama, by road). The Tanwalbougou incident, which merits its own post, has become a national affair, with President Roch Kaboré announcing last week that there will be an investigation.

For additional context, see Crisis Group’s report from February and the Institute for Peace & Security Studies’ report from March.