Burkina Faso

Map of Burkina Faso

What is Happening in Burkina Faso?

Two military coups in 2022. In March 2023, two million people were internally displaced. More than 3.4 million people (16 per cent of the population) are estimated to face acute food insecurity in 2023.

Embroiled in the wider conflict affecting the tri-state border area with Mali and Niger for more than five years, Burkina Faso has recently seen a southward extension of attacks by Islamist militants affiliated with the Sahelian branches of al-Qaeda and ISIS. Alarmingly, June 2021 saw the most deadly attack to date when more than 160 people were massacred in Solhan village, while November saw unprecedented losses among security forces in a single attack. Civilians have also faced killings and rights abuses without redress at the hands of Burkinabé armed forces, who have been supported in their counter-insurgency activities by France and a regional counterterrorism coalition, the G5 Sahel Joint Force. Already Burkina Faso has the world’s fastest growing displacement crisis, with more than 1.4 million people uprooted. Yet an apparent increased fracturing of jihadist groups puts civilians at greater risk as insurgencies further intertwine with localized violence, primarily between Mosse and Foulse ‘self-defence’ militias and ethnic Fulani, who have been accused of aligning with jihadists.