In Burkina Faso the security situation in the last month appears unstable and slowly deteriorating.
This is particularly evident in the border areas where several clashes have occurred between regular forces and jihadist terrorists. The latest in chronological order are those registered on September 28th in Ouargaye (Koulpelogo province) in the Central-Eastern region of the country where the Burkinabe air force identified several terrorist groups.
Official sources say that several hundred jihadists were neutralized in the operation. In Silmaguè (province of Namentenga), however, around 15 guerrillas were killed in a military operation. Sunday, 1 October, in Taouremba (Soum province) a terrorist base was identified and decimated.
Following the alleged coup attempt of September 26th last year and the subsequent arrest of various Gendarmerie officers accused of being the perpetrators, on September 29th massive popular demonstrations, in support of the president of the Transition Ibrahim Traorè (photo) and in favor of an amendment to the Constitution, were organized in the main cities of the country. During them, several flags of Mali, Niger and Russia were displayed by the demonstrators.
Today, 4 October, the president of the Transition has appointed a new chief of staff of the National Gendarmerie, further worsening relations with the Armed Forces in question.
Last week the newspaper Young Africa - subsequently suspended by the regime - wrote of discontent and mutinies among the Burkinabe security forces due to various factors such as the decision to send troops in support of Niger and the unseemly burials of soldiers fallen in combat. The September 26th hundreds of people staged a demonstration covering key points of the city, in response to an appeal launched on social networks which incited the population to take to the streets to defend Captain Traorè, president of the Transition, and his government from a possible attempt to coup d'etat.
Other operations followed one another over the past month. L'September 11th in Silgadji and Petegoli in the north-eastern region of the country an indefinite number of terrorists were neutralized thanks to a joint operation between the Burkinabe army and air force. Two days later in the Sablogo forest in the Central-Eastern region of the country the Burkinabe army attacked a base of jihadist terrorists, managing to neutralize several of them, while in Nongfaire in the Northern region of the country around 300 terrorists attacked a military base. There were deaths on both sides in the clash.
Il September 4thHowever, in Yatenga in the province of Koumbri, the army soldiers and the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland suffered an ambush which caused the death of 17 soldiers of the 12th regiment and 36 VDP for a total of 53 deaths.
Islamic militants still control much of the country and the army does not appear fully capable of confronting and defeating terrorism.
UNICEF says at least one in four schools remain closed due to violence and insecurity in the country, making it impossible for one million children to go to school.
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