AVOID MUSLIM BURKINA FASO
Burkina Faso is religiously diverse society with Islam being the dominant
religion. According to recent census (2006) conducted by Government of Burkina
Faso, 60.5% of the population adheres to Islam. The vast majority of Muslims in
Burkina Faso are Malikite Sunni, deeply influenced
with Sufism. The Shi'a branch of Islam also has small presence in the country.
A significant number of Sunni Muslims identify with the Tijaniyah
Sufi order. The Government also estimated that 23.2% practices Christianity
(19.0% being Roman Catholic, 4.2% being Protestant), 15.3% follow Animism i.e.,
African Traditional Religion, 0.6% have other religions and 0.4% have none.
Wikipedia Encyclopedia.
Burkina Faso Sees More Child Soldiers as Jihadi
Attacks Rise
By Associated Press
August 01, 2021
DORI, BURKINA FASO - Awoken by gunshots in the
middle of the night, Fatima Amadou was shocked by what she saw among the
attackers: children.
Guns slung over their small frames, the
children chanted “Allahu akbar,” as they
surrounded her home in Solhan town in Burkina
Faso’s Sahel region. Some were so young they couldn’t even
pronounce the words, Arabic for “God is great,” said the
43-year-old mother.
“When I saw the kids, what came to my
mind was that (the adults) trained these kids to be assassins, and they came to
kill my children,” Amadou told The Associated Press by phone from Sebba town, where she now lives.
She and her family are among the lucky ones who
survived the June attack, in which about 160 people were killed — the
deadliest such assault since the once-peaceful West African nation was overrun
by fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State about five years ago. As
that violence increases, so too does the recruitment of child soldiers.
The number of children recruited by armed
groups in Burkina Faso rose at least five-fold so far this year, up from four
documented cases in all of last year, according to information seen by the AP
in an unpublished report by international aid and conflict experts.
At least 14 boys are being held in the capital,
Ouagadougou, for alleged association with militant armed groups, some there
since 2018, said Idrissa Sako,
assistant to Burkina Faso’s public prosecutor at the high court in the
city.
Amadou said she saw about seven children with
the fighters who surrounded her home during the Solhan
attack. She did not see them kill anyone, but they helped burn down houses.
“We are alarmed by the presence of
children with armed groups,” said Sandra Lattouf,
the representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, in
the country.
The effects of the conflict on children —
including their recruitment as soldiers but also attacks on schools and kids themselves
— have become so concerning that this year Burkina Faso was added for the
first time to the U.N.’s annual report on Children and Armed Conflict.
Aid groups say they are seeing more children
with jihadi fighters at roadside checkpoints in the Sahel — an arid
region that passes through Burkina Faso but stretches straight across the
African continent just south of the Sahara. In recent years, the western Sahel
has become an epicenter of jihadi violence.
During a recent trip to Dori, a town in the region
where nearly 1,200 people fled after the attack on Solhan,
the AP spoke with eight survivors, five of whom said they either heard or saw
children partake in the violence.
“We heard them say, ‘we good
children have come to change Solhan in a better way,’”
said Hama Amadou, a resident, who hid in his shop during the fighting. He said
he also heard women directing the children, saying “kill him, kill
him.”
Burkina Faso’s ill-equipped and
undertrained army is struggling to stem the violence, which has killed
thousands and displaced 1.3 million people since the jihadi attacks began.
Experts on child recruitment say that poverty
pushes some kids toward armed groups. Sako, who works
with the public prosecutor, said some children who wanted money to enroll in school
joined because they were promised approximately $18 if they killed someone.
Others were promised gifts like motorbikes.
But civil society organizations also accuse
army troops of contributing to the problem by committing abuses against
civilians suspected of being jihadis.
“There are more security operations ...
(so) there are more military abuses,” said Maimouna
Ba, head of operations for Women for the Dignity of the Sahel, a Dori-based
advocacy group. “It is hard for a child to get up in the morning and see
that their father was killed.” As they get older, children may become
angry and start asking why the state isn’t helping them, she said.
The army denied these allegations, along with
accusations that it was slow in responding to the attack in Solhan,
but would not provide a detailed comment.
The deteriorating security is sparking unrest,
with protests across the country demanding the government take stronger action.
In response, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore fired his security and defense ministers, appointing
himself minister of defense.
Amid this raft of problems, Burkina Faso must
now also figure out what to do with the children accused of being affiliated
with armed groups.
None of the boys being held in Ouagadougou has
been put on trial, according to Sako. The government
has not yet signed an agreement with the United Nations that would help it to
treat such children as victims, not perpetrators, for instance, by moving them
from prison to centers where they could receive psychological care.
“It is a real concern for us to find a
permanent solution for children,” said Sako.
Preventing further recruitment, meanwhile,
means tackling economic hardship and all that comes with it, including helping
kids who have left school to catch up on their lessons.
“Neglecting to act now will only lead to
a more intractable crisis and greater instability in the months and years
ahead, giving these armed groups the heartbreaking advantage
they are so violently seeking,” said Dr. Samantha Nutt, founder and president
of War Child Canada and War Child USA.
For now, many parents, already struggling to
feed, clothe and educate their kids, feel powerless to protect them.
“I’m really afraid for my child to
be recruited by jihadis,” said Isma Heella, a Dori resident and father to a 4-year-old boy.
“We fear for our children and for ourselves as parents because we are not
stronger than them.”
UN says armed
attacks in Burkina Faso displace over 17,500 in past 10 days
May 7, 2021
More than 17,500
people in Burkina Faso have been forcefully displaced from their homes in the
past 10 days due to a series of attacks by unidentified armed groups that have
killed 45 people, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
Attacks by
jihadist armed groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State in the West
African Sahel region have been rising sharply since the start of the year,
particularly in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, with civilians bearing the brunt.
The UNHCR
report said gunmen had carried out a series of attacks in three separate
regions, burning down houses and shooting civilians dead. The assailants also
ransacked health centres and damaged homes and shops.
"Clearly
one of the reasons is to cause mayhem and to torment civilians," UNHCR spokesman
Boris Cheshirkov told a briefing in Geneva.
The security
situation in the Sahel region is fuelling one of the
fastest growing displacement crises in the world, he said.
Security
sources told Reuters on Monday that armed assailants had killed around 30
people in an attack on a village in eastern Burkina Faso. read more
Last week, two
Spanish journalists and an Irish citizen were killed in an armed ambush by
suspected militants during an anti-poaching patrol near a nature reserve in
eastern Burkina Faso. read more
"The
trends we see only point to more violence to come," Cheshirkov
said.
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The violence
in Burkina Faso has displaced more than 1.14 million people in just over two
years, while the poor arid country is also hosting some 20,000 refugees from neighbouring Mali who are seeking safety from jihadi
violence.
Burkina Faso:
58 killed in attacks targeting Christians
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor
SUNDAY, JUNE
07, 2020
At least 58
people, including children, were recently killed in northern Burkina Faso
in three separate attacks by armed Islamic militants who were targeting
Christians.
Christians
were among those targeted and killed in the attacks that took place in the
provinces of Loroum, Kompienga
and Sanmatenga within 24 hours, from May 29 to May
30, according to the
U.K.-based aid agency Barnabus Fund.
The group said
a local source spoke to a survivor, who said the militants targeted Christians
and humanitarians taking food to a camp of internally displaced people with
many Christian villagers who had fled before the violence.
Referring to
an attack on a humanitarian convoy in Sanmatenga
province’s Barsalogho area, which left six civilians
and seven soldiers dead, the survivor said, “The driver shouted
‘forgive, forgive, we are also followers of the [Islamic] prophet
Muhammad.’ One of them [among the gunmen] turned to the other attackers
and said, ‘they have the same religion with us.’”
The attack
subsequently ended, the charity said.
Apart from the
attack in Sanmatenga, militants opened fire
indiscriminately at a cattle market in Kompienga on
May 30, killing at least 30 people. The day before, a convoy of traders, which
included children, was attacked while traveling from Titao
to Sollé in Loroum
province.
Dozens were
injured in the three attacks.
Last
December, at least 14
people were killed when gunmen stormed a Protestant church
service in the town of Hantoukoura near the border
with Niger. Last April, gunmen killed a
Protestant pastor and five other Christians who were leaving a
worship service in Silgadji.
Burkina Faso,
one of the most impoverished countries in the world, has been fighting armed
groups with links to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for more than four years.
Over 4,000
people were killed in Islamic extremist attacks in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali
in 2019, according to the
U.N.'s envoy for West Africa and the Sahel Mohamed Ibn Chambas.
Since 2016,
extremist groups including the Islamic State West Africa Province and Ansaroul Islam have carried out attacks throughout the
Sahel region of West Africa. But attacks increased fivefold in
2019 — deaths rose from 80 in 2016 to 1,800 in 2019.
Jihadist
violence has now spread from the country’s north to the western Boucle du
Mouhoun region where rice and maize are produced and
transported to other areas, resulting in a food shortages and might cut off
food for millions more in the region, according to The Associated Press.
It is feared
that the COVID-19 pandemic might exacerbate the situation at a time when 2
million people in the country are already facing food insecurity.
“If production
goes down in this area and if movement restrictions due to the coronavirus
drive up food prices in the markets, it could push numbers of severely
vulnerable people to double or triple,” Julia Wanjiru, communications
coordinator for the Sahel and West Africa Club, an intergovernmental economic
group, was quoted as saying.
According to the U.N.,
the number of people displaced in Burkina Faso rose 1,200 percent in 2019.
There are about 600,000 internally displaced people in the country as it is
becoming one of the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian crises.
CHURCH ATTACK
KILLS 24 IN BURKINA FASO
18th February
2020
By BosNewsLife Africa Service with additional reporting by
Linda Bordoni in Vatican City and Stefan J. Bos at BosNewsLife News Center
OUAGADOUGOU,
BURKINA FASO (BosNewsLife) Suspected
Islamic gunmen interrupted a weekly worship service at a Protestant church in
northern Burkina Faso, killing 24 people, authorities confirmed late Monday,
February 17. Another 18 people were wounded in Sunday’s attack rocking
Pansy town in Yagha province, the regional governor
said.
The armed
terrorists attacked the peaceful local population, after having identified them
and separated them from non-residents, added the governor, Colonel Salfo Kaboré. The provisional
toll is 24 killed, including the pastor 18 wounded and individuals who were
kidnapped, Kaboré added in published remarks.
Authorities
said some 20 attackers separated men from women close to the church in Pansy.
The church building was burned down, and several people were yet to be accounted
for, according to Christians familiar with the situation.
The gunmen
reportedly also looted oil and rice from shops and forced the three youth they
kidnapped to help transport it on their motorbikes. A resident of the nearby
town of Sebba, whose name was not identified for
security reasons, said Pansy villagers had fled there for safety.
It was the
latest in an escalation of Islamic attacks against devoted Christians and
moderate Muslims in the area in recent days. Last week, also in Yagha province, evangelical church leaders and several
family members were killed, aid workers confirmed.
ISLAMIC
MILITANTS
On February
10, suspected Islamic militants in Sebba seized seven
people at the home of a pastor.
In the early
hours of February 11, the deacon of the Evangelical SIM Church, Lankoandé Babilibilé, was shot
and killed by unidentified gunmen in Sebba, said
well-informed advocacy group Open Doors. His car was stolen and used to abduct
Pastor Omar Tindano of the same church, along with
two of Omar’s daughters, his son and two nephews. Yesterday, the news
broke that Omar, his son, and his nephews had all been executed, the group
explained.
His daughters were
released, physically unharmed, on the same day, Open Doors added. All five
bodies have been recovered, local authorities said.
Lankoandé helped establish the first churches in the Sebba region, while Omar was the president of the Sebba region of the Evangelical Church denomination, Open
Doors confirmed. Separately, shooters reportedly attacked an evangelical church
in the eastern town of Nagnounbougou. At least two
believers were killed in that attack, Christians said.
At the
Vatican, Pope Francis expressed concern about the attacks. He urged prayers for
the victims after making a similar request and appeal for interreligious
dialogue in Burkina Faso in November, following an attack that killed or
injured scores of people.
ALARMING RATE
Church observers
and activists say attacks against civilians, including Christians, are
increasing at an alarming rate in the West African nation
Open Doors
said Burkina Faso is now ranking 28th on its annual World Watch List of 50
nations where it is most challenging to be a Christian.
Violent
attacks account for this enormous rise, it stressed. Christians in these areas
require urgent prayer and support, said Illia Djadi, an Open Doors senior analyst on freedom of religion
or belief in sub-Saharan Africa. They are traumatized and don’t know how
to handle all this violence. Even close friends and members of SIM church are
reluctant to share details with reporters, fearing further targeting.
Open Doors
investigators noted a climate of fear for believers in Burkina Faso.
The advocacy
group Human Rights Watch West Africa said: Perpetrators use victims links to
government or their faith to justify the killings. Others appear to be reprisal
killings for killings by the government security forces, it added.
THOUSANDS KILLED
Nearly 4,000
people were killed in jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso and neighboring Mali and
Niger last year, according to United Nations estimates.
Observers say
more than 1,300 civilians were killed in targeted attacks 2019 in Burkina Faso,
more than seven times in the previous year.
The insecurity
has created a humanitarian crisis with an estimated over 760,000 internally
displaced people in the Muslim-majority nation. Refugees also face other
challenges as Burkina Faso is an impoverished nation, even by West African
standards. The landlocked country of 21 million people has also suffered from
recurring droughts and military coups.
French-educated
Roch Marc Kabore, who
served as prime minister and speaker of parliament under veteran President Blaise
Compaore, won the November 2015 presidential
election, with promises of reforms.
But concerns
over the economy and rights violations have overshadowed Kabore’s
pledges to introduce changes in Burkina Faso, which means “land of honest
men”, and has significant reserves of gold.
Dozens
believed dead after attack by Islamic militants in Burkina Faso
Officials say that between 10 and
30 people were killed in the northern Soum province
The Guardian
January 28, 2020
Dozens of people are feared dead
following an attack by Islamic militants on a village in Burkina Faso, the
latest bloody incident in
an unprecedented surge of violence across the restive Sahel region.
Details of the attack, which
occurred on Saturday and targeted the village of Silgadji
in the northern Soum province, were still unclear on Tuesday but a security
official said casualties in the assault totalled
between 10 and 30 dead.
In many such instances, initial
death tolls are revised upwards when investigators reach the often
remote areas where the raids take place.
Islamic extremists were still in
the vicinity of the village on Monday, a resident in nearby Bourzanga
town said, citing accounts from those who had fled.
The terrorists surrounded the
people at the village market, before separating them into two groups. The men
were executed and the women were ordered to leave the village, the source said.
Security teams are trying to get to the site but access to the village has
probably been booby-trapped with homemade mines, and they are having to proceed
carefully.
Though once considered resistant to
the phenomenon of Islamic extremism, Burkina Faso has
suffered a rapid rise in Islamist extremism in recent years, a spillover of
violence in neighbouring Mali.
The number of deaths from
Islamist-linked attacks in Burkina Faso rose
from about 80 in 2016 to more than 1,800 in 2019.
There were more than 4,000 deaths
across the Sahel reported last year, according to the UN.
Saturday’s attack follows a
massacre of 36 people at two villages in the northern Sanmatenga
province earlier this month.
Extremist violence in the Sahel
intensified after a coalition of Islamists and local separatist tribesmen took
control over much of northern Mali in 2012.
A seven-year campaign led by French
troops, the deployment of hundreds of US special forces, massive aid for local
militaries and a billion dollar-a-year United Nations peacekeeping operation
have been unable to decisively weaken the multiple overlapping insurgencies in
the region and security has continued to deteriorate.
European officials are worried the Sahel
is close to a tipping point that could see an irreversible slide into violent
chaos that will strengthen extremist groups and send a new wave of migrants to
Europe.
There are also concerns that the US
will withdraw a significant proportion of its troops deployed in Africa, possibly
undermining French military efforts in the region.
On Monday French officials said they
hoped good sense would prevail and the United States would not cut crucial
intelligence and logistics support for the French force of 4,500 troops based
in Mali.
The Pentagon has announced plans to
withdraw hundreds of military personnel from Africa as it redirects resources
to address challenges from China and Russia after two decades focused on
counter-terrorism operations. Those cuts could deepen following an ongoing
global troop review.
France believes it is time to
increase, not ease, pressure on militants to prevent Islamic State from
rebuilding in the Sahel”, a senior French defence
ministry official said.
The US currently has 6,000 military
personnel in Africa, though only several hundred are deployed against militants
in the Sahel.
Although some experts say a
repositioning of forces is overdue, many US officials share French concerns
about relieving pressure on militants in Africa.
Any withdrawal or reduction would
likely result in a surge in violent extremist attacks on the continent and beyond,
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Chris Coons wrote earlier this
month.
Gen François Lecointre,
chief of staff of the French armed forces, said the loss of US intelligence
from intercepted communications would be the biggest setback.
I’m doing my utmost to
prevent this from happening, he said, adding that French drone-based spying
systems would not be operational until year-end.
France said this month it would
deploy 220 additional troops to the region, despite rising anti-French sentiment
in some countries and criticism at home that its forces are bogged down.
Some French analysts have dismissed
the decision as a political gesture and called for greater emphasis on a
strategy that addresses the failings of local states in the Sahel and broader
economic issues.
Burkina Faso, one of the most
impoverished countries in the world, saw a tenfold rise in those displaced by
the violence over 2019, with more than 560,000 forced out of their homes by
December, according to the Norwegian
Refugee Council. The figure is predicted to rise to 900,000 people by April
Burkina Faso needs more than
bullets and bombs. Military engagement alone is failing to protect vulnerable
communities. Donors have not yet responded to the enormous humanitarian needs
with equal emphasis, warned NRC’s secretary general Jan Egeland, on a visit to
the country this week.
Hunger is also a threat, with one in
ten people in Burkina Faso likely to need food assistance by June.
Attacks on children in the Sahel
have also risen dramatically over the past year. Mali recorded 571 grave
violations against children during the first three quarters of 2019, compared to
544 in 2018 and 386 in 2017, according to Unicef.
Since the start of 2019, more than
670,000 children across the region have been forced to flee their homes because
of armed conflict and insecurity.
Burkina Faso’s army is
ill-equipped and poorly trained to deal with assaults that usually involve
hundreds of highly mobile, lightly-armed militants travelling on motorbikes or
in pickup trucks.
Burkina
Faso: 11 soldiers killed in terrorist attack
Incident comes day after at least
35 civilians and seven soldiers were killed in one of the country's deadliest
attacks
Alaattin Dogru |26.12.2019
At least 11 soldiers were killed
Wednesday in a terrorist attack in northern Burkina Faso, according to local
reports.
A detachment at Namissiguian
military base in Soum province was ambushed while the soldiers were patrolling
the village of Hallale.
It follows an incident on Tuesday
morning when at least 35 civilians, most of them women, and seven soldiers were
killed when terrorists attacked a military detachment and the civilian
population in the town of Arbinda in the province.
No group claimed responsibility for
the attack, but the Sahel region is home to many terrorist groups, including
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Daesh/ISIS.
Suspected jihadists kill 20 in
Burkina Faso ON OCTOBER 7, 2019
Vanguard
Twenty people were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists on a gold-mining
site in northern Burkina Faso on Friday, two sources said. Gunmen came to the Dolmande site in Soum province and fired on people working
there, killing 20, a security source said on condition of anonymity on Sunday,
according to Reuters report.
A local source said around 20 people had been killed in the attack, but gave no
further details. There was no immediate comment from the Burkinabe authorities.
Once a pocket of relative calm in the Sahel, Burkina has suffered a homegrown
insurgency for the past three years, which has been amplified by a spillover of
jihadist violence and criminality from its chaotic neighbour
Mali. Friday’s bloodshed extends a run of recent
violence, that includes the death of at least 29 people in attacks on a food
convoy and a transport truck in early September.
The Associated Press
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Friday, 2 March 2018
Sixteen people -- nine assailants and seven members of the security forces --
were killed in the capital of Burkina Faso on Friday when armed men attacked
the French embassy and the country’s military headquarters, a government
source said.
The bloodiest clashes in Ouagadougou were in the assault on the armed forces
HQ, where five attackers and five members of the security forces died, the
official said.
The army’s medical chief, Colonel Amado Kafando, said 75 people were
being treated for wounds, giving a still-incomplete toll.
In contrast, three security sources reached from Paris -- two in France and one
in West Africa -- have sketched a higher death toll, saying at least 28 people
died in the attack on the military HQ alone.
Four attackers were neutralized in the attack on the French embassy, the
government in a statement posted on its Information Service website.
A parallel attack targeting the headquarters of the Burkinabe armed forces left
two dead, Information Minister Remis Fulgance Dandjinou told the state TV channel RTB.
A certain number of gendarmes and soldiers were wounded, but there were no
known casualties among civilians, he said.
The attack has strong overtones of terrorism, the minister said.
In Paris, a French diplomatic source said there had been no French casualties.
Early Friday, gunfire and explosions rocked Burkina Faso’s capital in
what the police said was a suspected attack by Islamic militants.
By midday the gunfire became intermittent and helicopters flew over the French
Embassy in Ouagadougou. Witnesses at the national television office which faces
the French Embassy told The Associated Press that five people came in a pick-up
truck in front of the embassy and started shooting after saying “Allahu Akhbar.” They then set fire to the truck and began
shooting.
Heavy smoke rose from the army joint chief of staff’s office in
Ouagadougou, and witnesses said loud explosions were still heard around the
military headquarters in the western part of the capital’s city center
and far from the other area under attack that houses the embassies, the prime
minister’s office and United Nations offices.
Burkina Faso’s police director general Jean Bosco Kienou
told AP the form is that of a terrorist attack.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen above the army offices in western
Ouagadougou where police and gendarmerie responded. Barricades were erected to
keep people from all areas under assault.
Burkina Faso’s police said the defense and security forces are responding
to attacks around the Prime Minister’s office and the United Nations.
France’s foreign affairs ministry published a message on their website
warning of gunfire in the capital, and said that security forces are now
intervening and enhanced security measures could be taken by authorities. It
recommended people stay off the streets and remain in a safe place.
Ouagadougou has been attacked by Islamic militants targeting foreigners at
least twice in the past few years.
In August, extremists opened fire as patrons dined on a Sunday night at the
Aziz Istanbul restaurant, killing at least 18 people. In January 2016, Islamic
militants attacked another cafe popular with foreigners in the capital, killing
30 people.
Both times security forces have struggled to contain the violence, waiting for
hours before intervening at the scene.
Islamic militant threats also moved into new parts of Burkina Faso earlier this
month with an attack by 10 people in an eastern town that killed an officer and
wounded two others. Increased attacks staged at the border with Mali have
forced thousands to flee over the past year. An Australian doctor who had spent
decades treating civilians was also abducted along this border and remains
missing.
The region is also now the home of a Burkina Faso militant
figure, Malam Dicko, who has collaborated with
militants across the border in Mali. Among his objectives has been seeking to
end the use of French, the former colonizer’s language, in regional
schools. Burkinabe forces backed by French military counterparts have tried to
capture Dicko but he remains at large.
Suspected jihadists kill 18 in attack on Burkina Faso restaurant
Thiam Ndiaga
August 13, 2017
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 18 people
and wounded several during a raid on a restaurant in Burkina Faso's capital
overnight, but security forces shot dead both attackers and freed people
trapped inside the building.
"This is a terrorist attack," Communications Minister Remi Dandjinou told a news conference on Monday.
Burkina Faso, like other countries in West Africa, has been targeted
sporadically by jihadist groups. Most attacks have been along its remote
northern border with Mali, which has seen activity by Islamist militants for
more than a decade.
A Reuters witness saw customers running out of the Aziz Istanbul restaurant in
central Ouagadougou as police and paramilitary gendarmerie surrounded it, amid
gunfire.
Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said two
Canadians were among the dead and French Foreign Affairs minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said a French citizen was killed.
Lebanon's interior ministry said three Lebananese
died, including one who was also a Canadian national.
Earlier, Burkina Faso Foreign Affairs Minister Alpha Barry said at a news
conference that seven Burkinabes, two Kuwaitis, a
Nigerian, a Senegalese and a Turk were also among at least 18 killed.
French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the situation with Burkina Faso
President Roch Marc Kabore,
his office said, including the role of a new multinational military force aimed
at fighting Islamist militants across the vast Sahel region of Africa.
A woman said she was in the restaurant celebrating her brother's birthday when
the shooting started.
"I just ran but my brother was left inside," she told Reuters TV as
she fled the building.
For many it was a grim echo of a similar attack on a restaurant and hotel in
Ouagadougou in January 2016 in which 30 people were killed. Al Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility.
AQIM and related Islamist groups were largely confined to the Sahara desert until they hijacked a rebellion by ethnic
Tuareg separatists in Mali in 2012, and then swept south.
French forces intervened the following year to prevent them taking Mali's
capital, Bamako, but they have since gradually expanded their reach across the
region, launching high-profile attacks in Bamako, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast,
as well as much more frequent, smaller attacks on military targets.
Gunmen attacked a U.N. peacekeeping base in Mali's northern city of Timbuktu on
Monday, the peacekeeping mission said, adding that it had deployed a rapid
response force with helicopters to the scene.
In another incident on Monday, armed men opened fire on U.N. peacekeepers and
Malian troops in Douentza, central Mali, killing a
Malian soldier, according to Malian authorities. A peacekeeper was also killed,
a U.N. spokesman in New York said.
A new al Qaeda-linked alliance of Malian jihadist groups claimed an attack in
June that killed at least five people at a luxury Mali resort popular with
Western expatriates just outside Bamako.
"I am speechless," Abdoulaye Bance said on
a street near the Ouagadougou restaurant, where shops and banks were shuttered
up and traffic light.
"It is not the first time this is happening in our country. There are many
victims. There is a feeling of despair."
African nations launched a new multinational military force last month to
tackle Islamist militants in the Sahel region, a huge band of territory that
fringes the Sahara desert and stretches right across
North Africa. However, the force will not be operational until later this year
and currently faces a budget shortfall.
Macron's office said he and Kabore agreed it was
"imperative" to speed up the force's implementation.
"They will have further contact with each other in the coming days, as
well as with other regional heads of state over the progress of this
plan," it said in a statement.
Some observers see the initiative by Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and
Chad as forming the basis of an eventual exit strategy for around 4,000 French
troops now deployed to the volatile region. But Macron said Paris had no plans
to withdraw them.
At least 23 dead, scores freed after hotel siege
By Faith Karimi and
Sandra Betsis
January 16, 2016
(CNN) Attackers raided a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso overnight, shooting some
and taking others hostage in a siege that lasted hours and ended with dozens of
people dead.
An al Qaeda-linked terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault at
Splendid Hotel -- a popular meeting place for Western diplomats in the capital,
Ouagadougou.
The attack began Friday night and dragged on under the cover of darkness.
Security forces circled the perimeter to assess the situation before they
stormed in hours later.
"Everyone was panicked and was lying down on the floor. There was blood
everywhere, they were shooting at people at point blank," said Yannick
Sawadogo, who survived the siege.
Security forces entered the hotel early Saturday and freed 126 hostages, half
of whom were hospitalized, according to Burkina Faso's foreign minister, Alpha
Barry.
Security Minister Simon Compaore said 23 people from
18 countries had been killed. Gilles Thibault, France's ambassador to Burkina
Faso, said 27 were dead.
Two French nationals were among the dead, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported, citing
the French Foreign Ministry.
It was unclear whether either death toll included the four attackers --
including two women -- that Compaore said were
killed.
Thibault said three attackers died, and none of them were women.
Survivors described horrific scenes as the attackers paced and fired in the
hotel Friday night.
"We could hear them talking and they were walking around and kept shooting
at people who seemed alive," Sawadogo told CNN affiliate BFMTV.
Sawadogo said he escaped through a broken window, and could barely see because
of smoke.
Burkinabe forces scoured rooms at the hotel, looking for terrorists and any
remaining hostages. Those rescued included a government minister, state media
reported.
The West African nation's forces received logistical support from American and
French troops. Shortly after the forces stormed the hotel, the sounds of
gunshots faded.
The attack in Burkina Faso appeared well-planned, with some of the attackers
coming to the hotel during the day and mingling with guests, the foreign
minister said.
When darkness fell, more attackers joined them, he said.
Before the hotel assault, they attacked the Cappuccino café across the street,
which had about 100 people, according to the state broadcaster.
They then took off to the Splendid Hotel, where they seized hostages.
Witnesses said the attackers wore turbans and spoke a language not native to
Burkina Faso, a former French colony.
U.S. forces helped with logistical support. The United States has about 75
military personnel in Burkina Faso, including 15 assigned to the U.S. Embassy,
according to a U.S. defense official. An additional 60 help train and advise
the French military in the nation.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the assault, local
media reported. CNN could not independently confirm that claim.
The al Qaeda-linked Al-Mourabitoun said it conducted
the attack, which had similarities to the one in neighboring Mali in November.
Al-Mourabitoun had claimed responsibility for the
November attack at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali, which left 22 people dead.
The group's leader is veteran al Qaeda figure Mokhtar Belmokhtar,
according to the Mauritania-based Al Akhbar news
agency.
In June, Libya's interim government reported that he died in an American
airstrike.
The attack comes a few months after Burkina Faso marked a turning point
following a historic presidential election.
Burkina Faso elected a new president in November after nearly three decades of
autocratic rule followed by a civil uprising.
Roch Marc Christian Kabore,
the nation's former prime minister, won more than 53% of votes in that
election.
Elections were postponed the month before because of a failed coup against the
transitional government.
The West, particularly France, considers Burkina Faso a key ally in the fight
against al Qaeda.
French President Francois Hollande said he stands with the nation against the
"odious and cowardly attack."
The U.S. Embassy condemned the attack, describing it as a " senseless
assault on innocent people."