Northeast Burkina Faso was hit, on the night from Friday to Saturday, by two attacks, one of which left at least 138 dead, the deadliest in this country since the beginning of jihadist violence in 2015. terrorists have caused so many casualties and damage? RFI spoke with Mahamadou Sawadogo, a former gendarme and security specialist in Burkina Faso.
RFI: How did you react to this extremely violent attack??
Mahamadou Sawadogo: First, I would like to extend my condolences to the weeping people of Burkina Faso and also tell them that I am saddened and almost speechless in the face of this cowardly tragedy committed by armed terrorist groups. And right now I am convinced that all Burkinabès are wounded in the soul in the face of such a tragedy.
How did such a drama come about now? I think it is linked to a series of events and a series of warnings for which the authorities have not taken their marks, because the Solhan and Mansila area has long been abandoned and was completely under the control of these terrorist groups for a few months since the beginning. of the year 2021. So they have only acted in complete freedom, without too many compromises.
But in mid-May, Burkinabe’s Defense Minister Chériff Sy went to Sebba, about 10 miles[10 km]from Solhan, at which time he estimated that the situation had returned to normal in the region. You have to believe no?
Yes, we must believe that it is not. Because given the proportion of internally displaced persons who have continued to flow from Solhan to Dori for more than three months, and also given the number of incidents that continue to take place in these areas, it is clear that the situation was not under control.
Should we see this attack as a response to the government talking about “back to normal“?
I would not say an “answer”. But it is simply part of their strategy, of the strategy of armed terrorist groups, to strike where they can.
This is part of [de leur stratégie] to strike right now, because it’s the rainy season. The beginning of the rainy season coincides with an increase in violence, for afterwards they [les groupes armés] will no longer be able to move as they should. So the level of violence rises before it falls during the rainy season.
Another factor that must be taken into account is the change in ISIS leadership. It can also be a message from the new leader who wants to show that he really has the strong hands and grip to lead this new group.
According to our information, the attacks in any case first targeted the post as volunteers for the paternal defense (VDP) before attacking the rest of the population. Is this a message to the government about its “civilian use” in security policy??
Yes, we had warned that the use of VDP would exacerbate violence and target violence against civilian populations. So yes, that is one of the consequences. And [le poste] of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland is one of the armed posts still remaining in this city. Suddenly, it was simply enough to ruin this post and the city was theirs.
It is also a message to prevent peoples from massively following this dynamic that has borne fruit, it is true in some regions, but in others it is in the process of exposing to the maximum civilian population.
As for the facts: the first armed groups were seen around Solhan around 9pm on Friday and for the first confrontations during the night, around 2am There is no problem in the security forces’ intervention time?
It should be noted that Solhan is not far from Niger, in a fairly isolated area and difficult to access, at least for troops on foot. The Burkinabé army had only aircraft left. I am not in the secret of the gods to know which aircraft the Burkinabé army has, but in my opinion there may be a problem with equipment and logistics, which means that the army can not intervene in time.
But at the ground it would be difficult, at least it takes the troops 4 hours to reach this locality. Without forgetting that there are mines being built by these armed groups to stop the progress of the defense and security forces. Apparently, they implemented an unstoppable strategy that made it possible.
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