War crimes and ethnic cleansing reported in Burkina Faso

A Human Rights Watch report states that state forces, militias and armed groups committed mass killings and forced displacement amid impunity and international silence.

According to a document published by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Burkina Faso army together with allied militias has killed more than 1,800 civilians and displaced thousands of people since 2023. The organization maintains that these acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity for which both the government and senior military commanders could be responsible.

The HRW team documented the impact on the civilian population of an armed conflict that it describes as receiving “scant attention globally.” The report cites 57 incidents involving the Burkinabe military forces together with allied militias known as the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), as well as the Islamist armed group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), since the current military junta seized power in September 2022.

On this matter, Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch, stated that the military junta is committing “horrific” abuses, in addition to failing to ensure accountability on all sides and restricting information to hide the suffering of the civilian population trapped in the violence.

Bolopion added that the government of Ibrahim Traoré has increased
repression against the political opposition and independent media, “creating a climate of terror and severely restricting the flow of information about the conflict and its impact,” said the HRW executive director.

Moreover, the document noted that the Burkinabe army and the militias attacked Fulani communities for their “support” of Islamist armed groups, which amounted to the ethnic cleansing of the nomadic Fulani people.

HRW indicated that in November 2023, militias allied with the Traoré government killed 13 people from the Fulani community in the western village of Bassé, a locality in the department of Bourzanga, in Bam province. The victims’ bodies were blindfolded, with their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot wounds, according to witnesses who spoke with the organization.

The organization’s report maintains that members of all parties to the conflict in Burkina Faso enjoy almost total impunity. Relatives and victims have said that they do not trust the national judicial institutions or cannot access them. For their part, the authorities deny or downplay allegations of abuse, especially those perpetrated by the military forces and the militias.

A conflict spreading across the Sahel

In recent years, human rights organizations have noted that the crimes committed in Burkina Faso are part of a pattern of violence in the central Sahel region of the African continent, characterized by deteriorating human rights and marked by greater threats to civilians trapped in armed conflicts.

Since 2020, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have experienced military coups. As a result, the rule of law has been eroded, widening impunity for human rights violations and leaving their populations more vulnerable.

Along these lines, organizations report that the military juntas have shown intolerance toward the political opposition and independent media. As a consequence, civic and political space has been curtailed as a repressive measure against journalists, activists and members of opposition political parties. At the same time, the military leaders of these three countries have consolidated their power without holding elections, delaying the possibility of a democratic return to government.

The accusations are directed not only at government security forces but also at the Islamist groups that have committed serious violations of human rights and international law in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. As of March 2026, the armed conflict in this region had killed thousands of civilians, causing one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world, as it forced around 3 million people to flee their homes.

For their part, the military junta authorities of the Sahel countries have ignored calls for accountability and to fulfill their legal obligations to investigate, establish concrete responsibilities so as not to allow impunity to worsen, and provide redress to victims. In January 2025, the three countries officially left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and in September 2025 the three countries also announced their intention to withdraw from the ICC, a move that would jeopardize access to justice for victims of human rights crimes.

The UN called on the Sahel countries to act in accordance with the international legal framework and to facilitate a return to the full exercise of fundamental rights for all citizens, in particular those affected by decisions deemed arbitrary or poorly justified.

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia