ABIDJAN: The European Union on Wednesday condemned an attack claimed by jihadist rebels that killed dozens in Burkina Faso last weekend, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
Armed men carried out the attack in the village of Barsalogho in north-central Burkina Faso on Saturday, killing dozens of civilians and security personnel and wounding others, local sources said.
A group linked to Al-Qaeda known by its Arabic initials JNIM, one of several rebel groups active in the troubled Sahel nation since 2015, claimed responsibility.
The EU “condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack” in Barsalogho, which “left hundreds of victims, mainly civilians,” Borrell said in a statement.
The bloc “expresses its solidarity with Burkina Faso and conveys its condolences to the families of the victims and its wishes for a swift recovery to the wounded,” he added.
The insurgency waged by rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Daesh has also rocked neighboring Mali and Niger, killing thousands and displacing millions across the region.
Borrell said the EU expressed its “strong concern amid the worsening security situation in the country and the sub-region” and encouraged efforts to avoid an escalation of violence.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also “strongly condemned the terrorist attacks,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
The military-led Burkinabe authorities have not provided a toll and have stopped announcing civilian and military casualties in jihadist attacks for about a year.
But a group representing victims’ families reported “at least 400 dead.” One of its members told AFP they helped bury victims in mass graves that contained “more than 100 bodies.”
A survivor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said she lost her husband and a brother-in-law and that “we haven’t finished burying the bodies.”
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Burkina Faso, Carol Flore-Smereczniak, said two humanitarian workers were among those killed.
EU condemns jihadist massacre in Burkina Faso
https://arab.news/pd5am
EU condemns jihadist massacre in Burkina Faso
- A group linked to Al-Qaeda known by its Arabic initials JNIM, one of several rebel groups active in the troubled Sahel nation since 2015, claimed responsibility
- The insurgency waged by rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Daesh has also rocked neighboring Mali and Niger
In Ethiopia, Tigrayans fear return to ‘full-scale war’
- Flights have been suspended into Tigray since Thursday and local authorities reported drone strikes on goods lorries
- The international community fears the fighting could turn into an international conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea
ADDIS ABABA: Tigrayans in northern Ethiopia fear a return to all-out war amid reports that clashes were continuing between local and federal forces on Monday, barely three years after the last devastating conflict in the region.
The civil war of 2020-2022 between the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces killed more than 600,000 people and a peace deal known as the Pretoria Agreement has never fully resolved the tensions.
Fighting broke out again last week in a disputed area of western Tigray called Tselemt and the Afar region to the east of Tigray.
Abel, 38, a teacher in Tigray’s second city Adigrat, said he still hadn’t recovered from the trauma of the last war and had now “entered into another round of high anxiety.”
“If war breaks out now... it could lead to an endless conflict that can even be dangerous to the larger east African region,” added Abel, whose name has been changed along with other interviewees to protect their identity.
Flights have been suspended into Tigray since Thursday and local authorities reported drone strikes on goods lorries on Saturday that killed at least one driver.
In Afar, a humanitarian worker, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said there had been air strikes on Tigrayan forces and that clashes were ongoing on Monday, with tens of thousands of people displaced.
AFP could not independently verify the claims and the government has yet to give any comment on the clashes.
In the regional capital Mekele, Nahom, 35, said many people were booking bus tickets this weekend to leave, fearing that land transport would also be restricted soon.
“My greatest fear is the latest clashes turning into full-scale war and complete siege like what happened before,” he told AFP by phone, adding that he, too, would leave if he could afford it.
Gebremedhin, a 40-year-old civil servant in the city of Axum, said banks had stopped distributing cash and there were shortages in grocery stores.
“This isn’t only a problem of lack of supplies but also hoarding by traders who fear return of conflict and siege,” he said.
The region was placed under a strict lockdown during the last war, with flights suspended, and banking and communications cut off.
The international community fears the fighting could turn into an international conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, whose relations have been increasingly tense in recent months.
The Ethiopian government accuses the Tigrayan authorities and Eritrea of forging closer ties.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned about... the risk of a return to a wider conflict in a region still working to rebuild and recover,” his spokesman said.
The EU said that an “immediate de-escalation is imperative to prevent a renewed conflict.”
