Burkinabe Junta Silences Critics as Security Challenges Escalate

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Three journalists critical of Burkina Faso’s military junta were kidnapped over a 10-day period in June.

At least one of them, Serge Oulon, editor of the newspaper L’Événement, was abducted by a group of armed men

claiming to be
from the National Intelligence Agency, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Kalifara Séré, who appeared on the program “7Infos” on the private television channel BF1, went missing the day after he attended a hearing with judicial police. Séré had recently questioned the authenticity of footage of junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traoré donating blood.

The nation’s media regulator temporarily suspended “7Infos.” Several Western news outlets also have been suspended or banned for reporting on the country’s ongoing insecurity.

Adama Bayala, who appeared weekly on the “Presse Echos” program disappeared shortly thereafter.

“He left his office and went to see a friend, who waited for him in vain,” an anonymous source close to Bayala told Reporters Without Borders. “It seems that he was abducted in the middle of traffic.”

Repression of Burkinabe journalists, officials and civil society members has risen since the Traoré-led coup in September 2022.

“What is certain is that Traoré’s grip on power depends heavily on violent repression and the continued abuse of force backed by outside partners, all in the name of sovereignty, revealing the tragic farce of military rule in Burkina Faso and in the Sahel more generally,” Daniel Eizenga, a research fellow at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), wrote in World Politics Review.

Most of those abducted, jailed or conscripted to the front lines of the country’s war on terror had highlighted the junta’s failure to eradicate terrorists, which Traoré promised to do.

Violence instead has increased, and the junta has lost significant territory to terrorists. About half of the country is now outside government control.

By the end of 2023, about 2 million people were trapped in 36 villages blockaded by armed fighters, Al Jazeera reported. Because of the blockades, food deliveries and medicine are scarce.

More than 2,000 civilian deaths linked to “militant Islamist groups” are expected to occur in Burkina Faso in 2024, Eizenga wrote. That is an increase of nearly 75% compared to 2021, the year before the coups, and

triple the number
of civilian fatalities in 2020.

Last year, about 400 French special operations troops left the country as relations between the two countries soured. Traoré’s decision to partner with Russian mercenaries has heightened insecurity, as the Burkinabe military and Russian fighters are accused of committing atrocities against civilians.

Burkinabe forces in February massacred more than 223 villagers, including at least 56 children, in a campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with jihadist militants, Human Rights Watch reported.

Traoré’s own Soldiers also face increasing threats.

On June 11, the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) terror group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Burkinabe military base in Mansila that killed more than 100 Soldiers and several civilians. It was the deadliest assault on the Burkinabe military since 2015.

The instability comes as hundreds of civilian militia auxiliaries across northern and eastern Burkina Faso have reportedly quit since May 2024 due to high casualty rates, rights violations, withheld salaries and a lack of equipment.

Traoré also ended previous locally led dialogues with armed groups that resulted in pockets of cease-fires. Last year, deaths due to “deadly violence” in Burkina Faso soared to 8,000, more than twice the number of deaths recorded in 2021, the year before the nation’s two coups, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Date Project, or ACLED.

“He has pursued total war,” Eizenga told Al Jazeera. “There’s good thinking behind expanding the capability of military forces but you have to do it in a way that’s effective and protects citizens. Taking negotiations off the table doesn’t seem smart.”

Traoré also promised to hold elections and expedite the country’s transition to democracy, none of which has happened. In May, the junta adopted an accord to extend its rule for another five years.

On August 15, Traoré’s government announced plans to ramp up military recruitment efforts.