Burkina Faso

ADF STAFF Sometimes it starts with a violent threat written in graffiti on a school wall. When heavily armed extremists arrive on motorcycles, the terror ensues — teachers are shot, kidnapped, raped. Some are executed in front of the…

ADF STAFF Burkina Faso has struggled with extremist violence pouring out of neighboring Mali since 2015. But November 14, 2021, became a tipping point for the Sahelian nation.  That morning, extremist gunmen stormed a military police…

ADF STAFF More than 4,200 people in Burkina Faso were killed by armed violence in 2022. In the first 3 1/2 months of 2023, armed violence in the country, fueled by insurgents such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, claimed…

ADF STAFF The brutal attack lasted about six hours. When it was over, at least 156 people were dead. Some of the victims were blindfolded, some were babies under a month old, killed on their mothers’ backs. The late April…

ADF STAFF Extremist rebel groups in Mali have long trafficked cocaine, engaged in illegal gold mining and kidnapping hostages for ransom to fund their operations. As groups such as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS)…

ADF STAFF Alima never again expects to live in her Burkina Faso home. Standing near a refugee settlement in Ghana, she can see her native hamlet over a dry riverbed. Alima said she left with her children last year after gunmen…

ADF STAFF In mid-2020, the Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court denied President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s request to delay the 2020 elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost immediately afterward, claims began…

ADF STAFF Now that Burkina Faso’s junta has forced French troops to leave the country, analysts say Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries could fill the void. Mamadou Drabo, executive secretary for junta-aligned civic group Save Burkina, told…

ADF STAFF Experts say an Islamic State group affiliate’s recent actions in northeast Mali signal that the group has entered a new phase and believes it is unchallenged by the military-led government. The extremists seized the northeast…

ADF STAFF As Burkina Faso endures deadly attacks by extremist groups, the transitional government is enacting a controversial counterterror strategy that could put more civilians in harm’s way. Shortly after seizing power in September…