Since the end of the political transition in 2014-2015, following the fall of Former President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré, Burkina Faso has lost its relative stability to face the most serious security crisis in its history in the wake of the occupation. The country has become vulnerable to attacks by armed groups launched from Mali, which found Burkina Faso in the Sahel a breeding ground to fuel more violent extremism, which means the call to perpetrate violence, through preparation, support or implementation, triggered by ideological motives to achieve religious, social, economic or political goals.
MANIFESTATIONS OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM
Terrorist groups have succeeded in attracting a large number of people from Burkina Faso to commit violence. Geographically, their activities were not limited to the Sahel, which was a stronghold at the outset. Rather, the attacks snowballed from the immediate vicinity into other regions, then spreading in 2017 to the North and Boucle du Mouhoun regions, then sneaking into the eastern region borderlines in 2018. Most of the attacks targeted the northern central regions, the coast and the east since 2019, notoriously attacking the security forces, civil representatives of the government and local communities. Over the course of days, the operations glaringly mounted and were on the increase.
Despite the complex security situation, two main groups carrying out the attacks can be possibly identified: Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). These two groups receive cooperation from small groups of smugglers, traffickers and outlaws who took control of some swathes of territory before the arrival of terrorist groups, including the Ansar Al-Islam group.
The modus operandi of these groups draws principally on kidnappings, attacks on government famous figures and icons, and the planting of improvised explosive devices. Regrettably, their attacks claimed more than one thousand eight hundred lives between 2015-2019, while about eight hundred thousand fled their communities, and more than half of them became homeless.
The armed groups took Mali as their base; driven by their strategy, they rely heavily on local citizens to internally empower their entity and ideology, which provides a reasonable explanation for the ever-increasing percentage of Burkina Faso citizens among the terrorist groups. The various analyses made available well contributed to classifying the factors impacting the citizens joining terrorist groups. The push factors are manifested in the structural conditions or characteristics of the community-based environment that lure vulnerable people into violence; while, the pull factors are the individual motives and whims at the level of small groups.
The facile approach of terrorist groups in Burkina Faso is very clear, as they rely on poor governance conditions to feed individual motives, resulting in a rebellion against the authorities to confront their unfair policies and abusive behavior. This is the most telling reason for joining violent extremist African groups. Such groups capitalize and feed on the indifferent government across rural areas, and the local unrest, which they employ to create social polarizations by fueling ethnic societal conflicts, which include heinous ethnic acts, such as the horrendous attacks in Yergo and Arbinda. Terrorist groups were accused of inciting these attacks, in addition to what happened to the Fulani communities that were victims of reprisals.
REACTIONS
In tandem with other entities, rulers respond to the risk of repeated terrorist attacks. Such responses are manifested by the implementation of a series of unlimited measures, in preference to the military tool. This is evident in the state of emergency that was declared in 6 out of 13 administrative regions of Burkina Faso. Equally important, it is evident that the narrow concept of military-based security guides the authorities to address violent extremism.
Two large-scale operations were launched between March and May 2019, which resulted in violations of local communities, and were consequently criticized by human rights organizations.
Since 2019, military operations have been on the increase in the areas occupied by armed groups, in which the security forces are reduced helpless to make security efforts and the respect for human rights work in harmony. As such, the security forces become compelled to adopt extrajudicial executions. This deprives the army of intelligence, and the relatives of the victims become radicalized, and human rights organizations condemn such acts.
In addition to the military approach, there are serious attempts to reform and develop the security system. The authorities seek to solve the main problems leading to violent extremism. For example, the Urgency Program for the Sahel (PUS) has been implemented since 2017 to reduce the vulnerability of communities and speed up development in the Sahel and part of the North. The implementation of the program has expanded since June of 2019 to include other vulnerable regions, including Boucle du Mouhoun and the East and Center of the country. It is hoped that this program will address the conditions driving violent extremism by establishing social and economic infrastructure, and improving local and administrative governance.
There is great interest in educating and sensitizing communities through broadcasting messages, speeches and educational programs on television and radio channels. The president of the country contributes to the awareness-raising process by denouncing stigmatization and identity revocation, which are considered among the main evils that threaten coexistence. Civil society is also important in fostering awareness and condemning reprisals, with the help of the “gathering to combat impunity and stigmatization of communities” that was established in 2019.
Concerted efforts are underway at the sub-regional level to develop solutions that help confront armed groups. The G5 Sahel evinces close cooperation to develop a national strategy for preventing and combating violent extremism. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has developed a policy to reform the governance of the security system in order to establish an approach that goes beyond the military tool used by member states. Burkina Faso has engaged in the security reform process since 2017 to develop a comprehensive security approach that integrates security elements in all areas of social and economic life.
CONCLUSION
The challenges in countering violent extremism and terrorism that are confronted by the authorities in Burkina Faso are enormously formidable, and they are on a constant state of alert without a respite. Despite positive measures instituted to counter violent extremism and terrorism, some reactions, such as total repression, lead to negative consequences. It is critically necessary for the authorities to develop their performance by the departure from overdependence on military operations; while, working out more feasible solutions to achieve greater holistic success. This should be carried out based on research studies, accurate statistics and disciplined measures, which contribute to achieving the greatest amount of peace and safety at home and abroad. Equally important, this undermines the foundations of terrorist and extremist groups.