In Burkina Faso, following the attack on the rural municipality of Solhan, on the night of June 4-5, the governor of the Sahel region is taking action. He discontinues the gold mining business. According to the government spokesman, the attack was mainly aimed at the gold mining site for this rural municipality.
All artisanal gold mines in the provinces of Oudalan and Yagha have been closed since Monday, June 7 and until further notice, and all activities related to gold mining in these places have been shut down.
Colonel Major Salfo Kaboré, governor of the Sahel region, urges miners to “clean out” sites. These studies, according to a study by the Economic and Social Observatory, were used to fund terrorism.
In the Burkinabè Sahel, this was manifested by armed groups levying taxes, emphasizes Bernabé Kambou, who coordinated the study on the terrorist financing system. “Self-financing is the most important force for terrorist groups active today in the Sahel region,” he said. “What the governor has done is a healthy move, as the recent attacks are linked to a desire to control the gold mines of armed terrorist groups,” Bernabé Kambou continued.
The artisanal gold mines had until then been saved from attacks, as these armed groups got their share of mining, according to researcher Mahamoudou Sawadogo.
It remains for the government to give itself the means to implement this measure and monitor these sites. Otherwise, it would be a blessed bread for the armed groups after the departure of the population, warns Mahamoudou Sawadogo.
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