Eastern Burkina Faso military convoy massacres

Overview

Throughout May 2024, convoys carrying soldiers from the Burkina Faso Armed Forces and allied Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) militia committed a series of massacres against civilians in eastern Burkina Faso. At least 400 civilians were killed during the convoys' journey between April 27 and May 10, 2024. The massacres occurred in a region that had already seen similar attacks a few months earlier, including the Nondin and Soro massacres and the Bibgou and Soualimou massacres.

Background

Northern and eastern Burkina Faso have been a frontline of an insurgency waged by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) since 2015, with these groups intensifying attacks on civilians perceived as sympathetic to the government since 2019. Since the September 2022 coup d'état that brought Ibrahim Traoré to power, the Burkinabe government and VDP auxiliaries have reportedly conducted massacres against civilian areas, killing hundreds. In February 2024, in response to jihadist attacks near Ouahigouya, government soldiers and militiamen attacked the villages of Komsilga, Nondin, and Soro, killing over 223 people; days later, soldiers killed up to 150 people in the Bibgou and Soualimou massacres.

The Convoy Massacres

The May 2024 convoy was tasked with resupplying cities and military bases in eastern Burkina Faso besieged by jihadist groups. A first group, composed of Rapid Intervention Brigades 5 and 9, left Dori on April 27 heading toward Mansila, a town under JNIM siege since 2020 that had not received land-based government supply since December 2022. On the first day, after being hit by a mine, the convoy killed 30 people in Niagassi, including fifteen women and nine children. The convoy went on to commit further massacres in Ouro-Djiama, Tepare, and Bognori near Mansila, killing at least 100 people, before reaching Mansila on May 4.

A second convoy, made up of Rapid Intervention Brigades 20, 12, 4, and 19, left Fada N'gourma between May 3 and 5 toward Tankaoulou and Foutouri, returning on May 19. Though this convoy encountered no jihadist attacks and found only one mine, soldiers reportedly opened fire in several villages without distinguishing between men, women, and children. Survivors said a predominantly Gourmantche village was spared while Fulani villages were devastated; targeted villagers said they had paid a JNIM-enforced zakat tax, which soldiers treated as evidence of collusion. Around 100 people were killed between May 3 and 9 along the road between Tankaoulou and Fada N'gourma.

The worst-hit villages included Gatougou, where 84 people were killed, with photographs showing roughly seventy bodies in the streets, including six infants, and Kampalougou, where an estimated 79 people were killed. Videos taken by both soldiers and jihadists who arrived at the scenes reportedly showed the corpses of men, women, and children, including burned bodies.