Burkina Faso's army, its civilian auxiliaries and jihadist groups have killed more than 1,800 civilians since 2023 in acts that constitute "war crimes and crimes against humanity", Human Rights Watch said in a report published on Thursday.
Issued on: 03/04/2026 - RFI
Displaced people at the Torodi IDP camp in Dori, in the northeast of Burkina Faso, where around 2,000 people threatened by jihadist violence have found precarious refuge, seen in May 2024. AFP - FANNY NOARO-KABREERTISING
Burkina Faso's ruling junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, took power in a September 2022 coup.
It has been unable to stem violence waged by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which have caused thousands of deaths over the past decade, the report by NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) shows.
The army relies on the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP), made up of civilian volunteers recruited to aid in the fight against jihadists.
The army, the VDP and the jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims – an Al-Qaeda affiliate known by its Arabic acronym JNIM – have killed "at least 1,837 civilians in 11 regions of the country between January 2023 and August 2025".
The report added that this includes dozens of children.
"The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should open a preliminary examination into war crimes and crimes against humanity, perpetrated by all parties to the conflict in Burkina Faso since September 2022," it said.
Threats and reprisals
Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, senior advisor for the Crisis and Conflict Division at HRW, said that government forces and the VDP militias were committing ethnic cleansing against the Fulani population of Burkina Faso.
"The victims are not in a position to file complaints and obtain justice in Burkina Faso because they are terrorised," he told RFI.
"They have no confidence in the judicial system. And in some cases, families of victims who filed complaints were not only threatened, but even the magistrates investigating the cases suffered reprisals."
One of the victims was investigating the murders of Fulani civilians, and was then forcibly conscripted into the Burkinabe army and sent to the front.
HRW found that at least 1,255 civilians were killed in 33 incidents carried out by the military and VDPs between January 2023 and April 2025, while JNIM was responsible for at least 582 deaths in 24 attacks over that same period.
The rights watchdog said its report was based on verification and analysis of open source information, including photos, videos and satellite imagery, along with interviews with more than 450 people from Burkina living in Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Mali.
Burkina Faso's ruling junta, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, took power in a September 2022 coup.
It has been unable to stem violence waged by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which have caused thousands of deaths over the past decade, the report by NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) shows.
The army relies on the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP), made up of civilian volunteers recruited to aid in the fight against jihadists.
The army, the VDP and the jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims – an Al-Qaeda affiliate known by its Arabic acronym JNIM – have killed "at least 1,837 civilians in 11 regions of the country between January 2023 and August 2025".
The report added that this includes dozens of children.
"The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should open a preliminary examination into war crimes and crimes against humanity, perpetrated by all parties to the conflict in Burkina Faso since September 2022," it said.
Threats and reprisals
Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, senior advisor for the Crisis and Conflict Division at HRW, said that government forces and the VDP militias were committing ethnic cleansing against the Fulani population of Burkina Faso.
"The victims are not in a position to file complaints and obtain justice in Burkina Faso because they are terrorised," he told RFI.
"They have no confidence in the judicial system. And in some cases, families of victims who filed complaints were not only threatened, but even the magistrates investigating the cases suffered reprisals."
One of the victims was investigating the murders of Fulani civilians, and was then forcibly conscripted into the Burkinabe army and sent to the front.
HRW found that at least 1,255 civilians were killed in 33 incidents carried out by the military and VDPs between January 2023 and April 2025, while JNIM was responsible for at least 582 deaths in 24 attacks over that same period.
The rights watchdog said its report was based on verification and analysis of open source information, including photos, videos and satellite imagery, along with interviews with more than 450 people from Burkina living in Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Mali.
Direct testimonies
In March 2025, in camps near Solenzo, in western Burkina Faso, at least 58 civilians were killed by the VDP and the armed forces, as one survivor testified.
“When we realised the patrol was coming, we all tried to flee, but they caught us at the edge of Solenzo, and then the army and the VDP opened fire on everyone," he said.
"More than 100 people were killed – men, women and children. I lost seven members of my family, including my older brother, my 80-year-old father, my mother and two cousins. Now I live with 10 widows of this massacre and their children.”
The report contains hundreds of testimonies of this kind.
In March 2025, in camps near Solenzo, in western Burkina Faso, at least 58 civilians were killed by the VDP and the armed forces, as one survivor testified.
“When we realised the patrol was coming, we all tried to flee, but they caught us at the edge of Solenzo, and then the army and the VDP opened fire on everyone," he said.
"More than 100 people were killed – men, women and children. I lost seven members of my family, including my older brother, my 80-year-old father, my mother and two cousins. Now I live with 10 widows of this massacre and their children.”
The report contains hundreds of testimonies of this kind.
Captain Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso attends the Alliance of Sahel States' (AES) second summit on security and development in Bamako, Mali, on 23 December, 2025. AP
Binta Sidibé-Gascon, president of the Kisal Observatory, a Sahel-based human rights monitoring group, praised HRW's work.
"This report is essential," she told RFI. "It's important documentation for the families, the victims and the survivors. All these human rights violations in Burkina Faso have been recurring in recent years, but it must be said that they have also intensified with the arrival of military regimes."
She added: "Our hope today is that we can go beyond documentation – that is, truly bring all these emblematic cases to justice."
'Criminal liability'
In one of the deadliest attacks, "Burkinabe military and VDPs killed hundreds of civilians in at least 16 villages and hamlets north of Djibo over several days" in December 2023, HRW said.
The report also accuses JNIM of targeting civilians who refused to submit to its authority or whom it accused of supporting government forces.
In August 2024, in the VDP-stronghold town of Barsalogho, JNIM fighters "shot dead at least 133 people and injured more than 200 in fewer than two hours", the report said.
As transitional president and army commander, Traore "should be impartially investigated for criminal liability for all abuses by the Burkinabe military and VDPs documented in this report that amount to serious international crimes, as a matter of command responsibility," HRW said.
Six other leaders, including Burkina Faso's ambassador to Washington and former defence minister Kassoum Coulibaly, current Defence Minister Celestin Simpore and army major general Moussa Diallo, should also be investigated for their role, HRW said.
The rights group also called for JNIM's leadership, including supreme leader Iyad Ag Ghaly and second-in-command Amadou Kouffa, as well as Burkina's JNIM country leader Jafar Dicko and his brother Ousmane Dicko to be investigated for criminal liability.
HRW also called on Burkina Faso's partners and donors to impose sanctions and to refrain from cooperating with the country's army.
This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Frédéric Garat.
Binta Sidibé-Gascon, president of the Kisal Observatory, a Sahel-based human rights monitoring group, praised HRW's work.
"This report is essential," she told RFI. "It's important documentation for the families, the victims and the survivors. All these human rights violations in Burkina Faso have been recurring in recent years, but it must be said that they have also intensified with the arrival of military regimes."
She added: "Our hope today is that we can go beyond documentation – that is, truly bring all these emblematic cases to justice."
'Criminal liability'
In one of the deadliest attacks, "Burkinabe military and VDPs killed hundreds of civilians in at least 16 villages and hamlets north of Djibo over several days" in December 2023, HRW said.
The report also accuses JNIM of targeting civilians who refused to submit to its authority or whom it accused of supporting government forces.
In August 2024, in the VDP-stronghold town of Barsalogho, JNIM fighters "shot dead at least 133 people and injured more than 200 in fewer than two hours", the report said.
As transitional president and army commander, Traore "should be impartially investigated for criminal liability for all abuses by the Burkinabe military and VDPs documented in this report that amount to serious international crimes, as a matter of command responsibility," HRW said.
Six other leaders, including Burkina Faso's ambassador to Washington and former defence minister Kassoum Coulibaly, current Defence Minister Celestin Simpore and army major general Moussa Diallo, should also be investigated for their role, HRW said.
The rights group also called for JNIM's leadership, including supreme leader Iyad Ag Ghaly and second-in-command Amadou Kouffa, as well as Burkina's JNIM country leader Jafar Dicko and his brother Ousmane Dicko to be investigated for criminal liability.
HRW also called on Burkina Faso's partners and donors to impose sanctions and to refrain from cooperating with the country's army.
This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Frédéric Garat.
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