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UN calls for impartial probe in Burkina Faso after killing of 28 people

Killings were blamed on the volunteer militia, VDP, which was created in 2019 to support the army's battle against armed groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and Daesh.

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Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been grappling with an insurgency led by armed fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Daesh terror group that has killed tens of thousands and displaced around two million people.

The UN rights chief has called on the transitional authorities in the conflict-hit Burkina Faso to swiftly and transparently probe the killing of 28 people whose bodies were found last weekend in the country's northwest.

Volker Turk said in a statement on Saturday that the UN welcomes the decision of authorities to carry out an investigation after several bodies were discovered in the northwest town of Nouna.

"I call on them to ensure it is prompt, thorough, impartial, and transparent and to hold all those responsible to account regardless of position or rank," he said.

"I have sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs underlining this exact message," the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights added.

"The victims and their loved ones are owed no less."

The UN rights office said its local sources had blamed the killings on a volunteer militia, Volontaires pour la Defense de la Patrie (VDP), created to support the army's battle against suspected armed groups.

According to the statement, the VDP members reportedly descended on the town, killing 28 men, "in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack on the group's military base the previous night" by suspected members of the Al Qaeda-linked Jama'at Nasr al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).

One Nouna resident had earlier told Reuters news agency that she witnessed two armed men enter her home on December 30 and kill her 74-year-old husband without any provocation.

Landlocked country

Burkina Faso, a landlocked West African country, is one of the poorest and most volatile nations in the world. It is under the rule of a military government.

Since 2015, it has been grappling with an insurgency led by armed fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Daesh terror group that has killed tens of thousands and displaced around two million people.

Attacks targeting the security forces and civilians have increased in recent months, especially in northern and eastern regions bordering militants-torn Mali and Niger.

The VDP, set up in December 2019, comprises civilian volunteers who are given two weeks of military training and then work alongside the army, typically carrying out surveillance, information-gathering, or escort duties.

Commentators have long worried that the poorly-trained volunteers are easy targets for the armed groups — and may also dangerously inflame ethnic friction without proper controls.

The UN rights chief had previously "raised concerns directly with the authorities regarding the potential human rights risks linked to recruitment, arming and deployment of auxiliaries in Burkina Faso," Saturday's statement said.

It stressed the "urgent need to strengthen their vetting procedures, pre-deployment training on international human rights and humanitarian law."

"Effective supervision by the security and defense forces" was also needed "to ensure inclusion and transparency during their recruitment," it said.

SOURCE: AFPTRTWorld and agencies