Civilian fatalities attributed to security forces in Burkina Faso and Mali have exceeded those caused by jihadist groups, according to recent data and rights assessments, raising concerns about the conduct of counterinsurgency operations and their broader implications for regional stability.

Analysts and rights groups say the pattern reflects a troubling escalation in abuses by state forces and allied militias, particularly in areas where governments are battling insurgencies linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. The findings come at a time when military-led governments in both countries are seeking to consolidate control following coups and recalibrate their international alliances.

Human Rights Watch researcher Ilaria Allegrozzi said Burkina Faso’s security forces and affiliated militias “appear to be more brutal and violent” than militant groups such as Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al Qaeda-linked coalition active across the Sahel. Her assessment underscores a shift in the dynamics of violence, where counterinsurgency measures themselves are increasingly contributing to civilian harm.

The data highlights a regional pattern in which government responses to insurgency are marked by alleged extrajudicial killings, collective punishment, and insufficient accountability mechanisms. Allegrozzi said such trends point to broader issues of military indiscipline that risk undermining the effectiveness of security operations.

Widespread civilian casualties linked to state forces could have significant strategic consequences, analysts said. Beyond the immediate human cost, such incidents may erode public trust in governments and create conditions that enable militant groups to strengthen their narratives and expand recruitment.

Insurgent organisations operating in the Sahel have long sought to portray themselves as alternatives to state authority, particularly in rural and marginalised regions. Reports of abuses by national armies may reinforce these narratives, complicating efforts to restore state legitimacy and control.

The situation also carries implications for international engagement in the region. The United States has signalled interest in improving relations with Sahelian governments, even as Burkina Faso and Mali have distanced themselves from traditional Western partners, including France, following their respective coups.

However, allegations of human rights violations could complicate diplomatic and security cooperation.Both Burkina Faso and Mali have undergone significant political transitions in recent years, with military juntas assuming power amid rising insecurity. These governments have prioritised aggressive counterinsurgency campaigns, often relying on local militias and volunteer forces to supplement national armies.

Rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the conduct of these auxiliary forces, which are frequently accused of targeting civilians suspected of supporting or collaborating with jihadist groups. Such accusations are difficult to verify independently in many cases due to restricted access to conflict zones and limited transparency from authorities.

Spokespeople for the governments of Mali and Burkina Faso did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Similarly, neither the Burkinabe government nor the Sharia Committee of JNIM in Burkina Faso responded to inquiries from Human Rights Watch regarding the allegations.

The reported pattern of violence reflects the complexity of the conflict environment in the Sahel, where distinguishing between combatants and civilians is often challenging. Armed groups operate in remote areas with limited state presence, and local populations are frequently caught between competing forces.

Despite these challenges, analysts stress that adherence to international humanitarian law remains essential for maintaining credibility and effectiveness in counterinsurgency operations. Failure to do so, they say, risks perpetuating cycles of violence that ultimately benefit insurgent groups.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that military-led approaches alone may be insufficient to address the root causes of instability in the region. Issues such as governance deficits, economic marginalisation, and intercommunal tensions continue to fuel conflict dynamics across the Sahel.

As Burkina Faso and Mali navigate their security challenges, the conduct of their armed forces is likely to remain under scrutiny from international observers and rights organisations.

The balance between combating insurgency and protecting civilian populations is expected to be a key factor shaping both domestic legitimacy and external partnerships.

Unidentified assailants attacked the village of Zaongo in Burkina Faso’s northern Centre-North region on Nov. 5, killing residents and setting property on fire.

A judicial team sent to investigate on Nov. 11 found that at least 70 people had died. Most of the victims were children and elderly, a state prosecutor said in a statement.

The exact number of deaths, injured and missing has yet to be determined, it added.

“The authors of these atrocities remain unknown. Investigations are ongoing,” the statement said.

The European Union on Sunday called on authorities to shed light on the massacre of “nearly a hundred” civilians in the village of Zaongo.

Burkina Faso is one of several West African countries battling a bloody jihadist insurgency that took root in neighbouring Mali in 2012.

Violence has spread across the Sahel region and more recently to coastal countries as militants seize territory despite military operations to push them back. Thousands have been killed and more than six million have fled their homes.

Burkina Faso has been battling Islamist militants active in northern regions, some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State, since 2015.

The fighting was particularly fierce and resulted in heavy casualties, the army said, adding that around 20 injured were evacuated to health facilities.

It added that more than 40 assailants were killed.

Dakar (AP) — Violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has made Burkina Faso a country with one of the world’s fastest-growing populations of internally displaced people, with the number mushrooming by more than 2,000% since 2019, according to government data.

Figures released last month showed more than 2 million people are internally displaced in the West African nation, the majority of them women and children, fueling a dire humanitarian crisis as the conflict pushed people from their homes, off their farms and into congested urban areas or makeshift camps.

Aid groups and the government are scrambling to respond amid a lack of funds and growing needs. One in four people requires aid, and tens of thousands are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Yet not even half of the $800 million humanitarian response budget requested last year by aid groups was funded, according to the United Nations.

“The spectrum of consequences (for people) is vast but grim at every point. A lot of people might die, and they’re dying because they weren’t able to access food and health services, because they weren’t properly protected, and the humanitarian assistance and the government response wasn’t sufficient,” Alexandra Lamarche, a senior fellow at advocacy group Refugees International, said.

The violence has divided a once-peaceful nation, leading to two coups last year. Military leaders vowed to to stem the insecurity, but jihadi attacks have continued and spread since Capt. Ibrahim Traore seized power in September.

The government retains control of less than 50% of the country, largely in rural areas, according to conflict analysts. Al-Qaida and Islamic State-affiliated groups control or threaten large areas, said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank.

“State security forces don’t have the resources (human and equipment) to fight both groups at all fronts,” he said.

The jihadis’ strategy of blocking towns, preventing people from moving freely and goods from flowing in, has compounded the displacement crisis. Some 800,000 people in more than 20 towns are under siege, say aid groups.

“The situation is very difficult. … People don’t have food, children don’t have school,” Bibata Sangli, 53, who left the eastern town of Pama in January 2022 just before it came under siege. She still has family there who are unable to leave, Sangli said.

A community leader who last year met Jafar Dicko, the top jihadi in Burkina Faso, said Dicko’s group blockades towns that don’t accept its rules, such as banning alcohol and requiring women to be veiled their faces. The leader spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

In January, the United Nations began using Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to airlift food to areas inaccessible by road – an extremely costly approach. The three Chinooks were reduced to one in May, making it harder to reach many people as quickly.

While the humanitarian situation deteriorates, so has the ability of aid groups to operate.

Since the military takeovers of Burkina Faso’s government began in January 2022, incidents against aid organizations perpetrated by the security forces increased from one in 2021 to 11 last year, according to unpublished data for aid groups seen by The Associated Press. The incidents included workers being arrested, detained and injured.

In November, security forces killed a humanitarian worker with a Burkina Faso aid organization in the Sahel region, the vast expanse below the Sahara Desert, according to a text message sent to an aid worker WhatsApp group seen by the AP.

Rights groups, analysts and civilians say Traore, the junta leader, is only focused on achieving military gains and cares little about human rights, freedom of speech or holding people accountable for indiscriminate killings of individuals suspected of supporting the militants.

Burkina Faso’s security forces killed at least 150 civilians in the north in April, according to local residents from the village of Karma, where most of the violence took place. Prosecutors said they opened an investigation into the killings.

Earlier this year, an AP investigation into a video circulating on social media determined that Burkina Faso’s security forces killed children at a military base in the country’s north.

While the government wages war, civilians bear the brunt and are running out of hope.

After jihadis attacked his village in eastern Burkina Faso in April, killing people and stealing cattle, a father of five, who did not want to be identified for security reasons, fled to the region’s main town of Fada N’Gourma.

But now his family doesn’t have food or access to health care, and the assistance supplied by humanitarian groups isn’t enough, he said.

“Since we’ve been displaced, our situation keeps getting worse,” the 46-year-old man said. “I miss my home.”

Since March, a large portion of the nation—including portions of the western Boucle du Mouhoun region—has been under a state of emergency as the government attempts to stop Islamist assaults.

The village of Youlou in the department of Cheriba, province of Mouhoun, “suffered a cowardly and barbaric terrorist attack” on Thursday, May 11, at 5:00 p.m.(1700 GMT), according to a statement from governor Babo Pierre Bassinga.

According to him, “the gunmen targeted peaceful civilians” who were farming by the river, and the “provisional death toll” stands at 33.

Local sources corroborated the existence of heavily armed, indiscriminately firing motorbike assailants.

On Friday, the victims were laid to rest.

Persons in Cheriba also claimed that three more persons were hurt in the attack and that the culprits had set property on fire before opening fire.

The governor said that local security was being improved.

A jihadist insurgency that began in Mali in 2015 has been waging war in Burkina Faso, which had two military coups in 2022.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, the interim leader of Burkina Faso after the September 30 coup, has set a target of retaking 40% of the nation’s territory from jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh organisation.

According to the NGOs, the violence has resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 individuals—both civilians and members of the military—and the displacement of two million people.

The agreement was signed following a field trip by a combined delegation of the OIC, its mission in Niger, and the Islamic Solidarity Fund to Burkinabe refugees and internally displaced people.

It was a component of the follow-up to the execution of a pertinent project that had been agreed by the Ministerial Conference for Women, which took place in Cairo in July 2021.

The agreement was signed by Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore, minister delegate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation, and Burkinabe Abroad, who is in charge of regional cooperation, and Dr. Amina Al-Hajri, director general of cultural, social, and family affairs at the OIC.

The delegation met with Nandi Soumie Diallo, minister of national solidarity, humanitarian action, national reconciliation, and women and the family, as well as Olivia Rumba, minister of foreign affairs, regional cooperation, and Burkinabe abroad.

They commended the OIC for taking the initiative to carry out the project and reaffirmed the willingness of their ministries and pertinent authorities to work together to make sure it was successful.

Al-Hajri stated that OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha was very interested in carrying out the initiative.

According to her, the OIC and its relevant institutions are eager to offer all support options in order to help Burkina Faso and the Sahel countries as a whole achieve security, stability, and prosperity.

Ouagadougou (AFP) — Jihadists killed at least three soldiers and eight civilian auxiliaries in an attack Saturday in Burkina Faso’s volatile north, security sources told AFP.