How Burkina Faso junta quells critics with conscription

Record ID: 1826819

  • Title: How Burkina Faso junta quells critics with conscription
  • Date: 2nd July 2024
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (JULY 2, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION (WMO) , CLARE NULLIS, SAYING: “Sea surface temperatures have been at record level at global level for 14 months now. That is till the end of May. We'll get the figures for June, hopefully later this week. So we've got very, very warm waters. We need to bear in mind that it
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2024 07:58
  • Keywords: africa armies burkina conflict coups crime d'etat emerging faso france fundamental government insurgencies justice law liberties markets military peace politics prisoners rights russia soldiers war west
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: Burkina Faso
  • Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
  • Reuters ID: LVA007524001072024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:PART QUALITY AS INCOMING
    Arouna Loure, a critic of Burkina Faso's ruling military junta led by Ibrahim Traore, was abducted last September and forced into military medical service for three months, part of a trend of the junta kidnapping and conscripting its detractors, according to victims' accounts.
    Rights groups have accused Traore's junta of abducting dozens of activists, journalists, rights defenders and critics. Reuters directly verified 18 such abductions since March 2023.
    Four released victims told Reuters they were violently snatched from workplaces or streets by armed men in military uniforms or civilian clothing identifying themselves as security forces.
    The survivors described a system of intimidation involving forced military service and torture at an ex-ministerial villa in Ouagadougou before being sent to a camp in Kaya for conscription.
    At the Kaya camp, the conscripts slept on dirty floors, did menial labor, faced humiliation and were sometimes whipped by the camp head, victims said. Some were briefly sent to the frontlines, facing insurgent attacks with minimal protection.
    The abductions aim to silence critics of the junta's failure to address the worsening Islamist insurgency, analysts said. Over 6,500 civilians have been killed since 2020, more than half under Traore's regime.
    The intimidation emerged in March with the conscription of activist Boukare Ouedraogo after he criticized insecurity. Around the same time, Traore's junta issued an emergency decree allowing conscription of citizens over 18.
    Photos and videos later circulated showing other missing critics like rights defender Daouda Diallo and ex-ministers Ablasse Ouedraogo and Issiaka Ouedraogo in military garb. Reuters was able to confirm the identity of the men from their facial features which matched previous file material, though could not verify the location or date.
    All three can be seen in fatigues with a pattern matching file photos of the Burkina Faso military uniform. The three were eventually released but did not wish to discuss their ordeal.
    Loure disappeared again in June after the doctors' union reported him missing, sources said. Traore's junta has not commented on the specific allegations despite repeated requests.
    Analysts say the authoritarian drift reflects the junta's fragility amid failure to restore security, nearly a decade into Burkina Faso's fight against Islamist militants.
    (Production: Deniz Uyar, Eleanor Whalley, Cooper Inveen)
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