Burkina Faso denies HRW civilians killing claim, deems it 'unfounded'

Burkina Faso’s authorities have dismissed as “unfounded,” a report by Human Rights Watch which accused the army of abuses against civilians.

Human Rights Watch earlier this week said 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, were massacred by Burkina Faso's military on February 25 in the Thiou district in northern Yatenga province, in an apparent widespread military campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with armed groups.

“The Burkina Faso government rejects and strongly condemns such unfounded accusations ... whose intention is to discredit our fighting forces engaged on the field at the risk of their lives, in securing the territory as well as protecting the population and their property against terrorist attacks,” government spokesperson Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo said in a statement on Saturday.

“The defence and security forces, which, at the risk of their lives, work daily to provide relief and assistance to the civilian population in areas facing security challenges cannot at the same time be the perpetrators of despicable acts such as those alleged against the same populations.”

Ouedraogo said judicial proceedings have been opened for the alleged massacres in view to deliver justice. He urged the army not to be “distracted by such stories.”

Authorities suspended the broadcasts of BBC Africa and Voice of America on Thursday after they ran stories about the report.

The landlocked African country witnessed two coups in 2022.