![]() Armed Islamist groups have targeted secular state education, burning schools and threatening, abducting or killing teachers. Across the region these groups are imposing “zakat” (forced taxation) and strategically destroying and looting civilian objects, including places of worship, health centers, food reserves, water services and bridges. ![]() In Burkina Faso, more than 1 million people live in areas under blockade and face daily threats of violence. At least 2.6 million people are internally displaced in the Central Sahel, including more than 2 million in Burkina Faso alone.įor more than five years armed Islamist groups across the Central Sahel have systematically used sieges, threats, kidnapping, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and landmines as deliberate tactics of war. ![]() Recurrent violence perpetrated by such groups – including those affiliated with al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) – subsequently spread into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, threatening populations across the Central Sahel with violations that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. Despite numerous security initiatives, including the presence of international forces and a UN peacekeeping operation (MINUSMA), the conflict shifted into inter-communal violence and attacks by armed Islamist groups. BACKGROUND:ĭuring 2012 Tuareg separatists and armed Islamist groups seized territory in northern Mali following a military coup. Populations are also at risk of abuses by security forces, as well as communal violence between ethnic militias and self-defense groups. Recurrent violence perpetrated by armed Islamist groups threatens populations in the Central Sahel – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – with violations that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
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