Burkina Faso, officially the People's Republic of Burkina Faso, is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2. In 2021, the country had an estimated population of approximately 23,674,480. Previously called the Republic of Upper Volta (1958–1984), it was renamed Burkina Faso by former president Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as Burkinabè, and its capital and largest city is Ouagadougou.
Diapaga is a city in, and the capital of, Tapoa Province, situated in eastern Burkina Faso. The main ethnic group in the city are the Gourmantché. It is a major centre for health services in the region. The W Park militant group of Burkina Faso are reported to have their headquarters in the town.
Burkina Faso is a religiously diverse society, with Islam being the dominant religion. According to the latest 2019 census, 63.8% of the population adheres to Islam. Around 26.3% of the population practises Christianity, 9.0% follow Animism/Folk Religion, and that 0.9% are unaffiliated or follow other faiths.
Burkina Faso is a multilingual country. An estimated 70 languages are spoken there, of which about 66 are indigenous. Mooré is spoken by about 52.5% of the population, mainly in the central region around the capital, Ouagadougou.
On December 24, 2019, militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the Burkinabe government military base in Arbinda, Sahel Region, Burkina Faso along with the town of Arbinda itself. The attack was halted due to French and Burkinabe air intervention, although 35 civilians were killed in the jihadists' massacre. The Arbinda attack was the deadliest incident in the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso in several years.
An ongoing war and civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels began in August 2015 and has led to the displacement of over 2 million people and the deaths of at least 10,000 civilians and combatants.
An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.
On June 11, 2022, jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the town of Seytenga, Séno Province, Burkina Faso, killing over a hundred civilians in a massacre. The massacre occurred after Burkinabe forces evacuated the city following ISGS' takeover of the Burkinabe base in the town on June 9.
The siege of Djibo is an ongoing blockade of the city of Djibo in Burkina Faso by several factions of Jihadist Islamist rebels. The siege began in February 2022, and is part of the Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso.
On August 4, 2022, jihadist militants ambushed a counter-terrorism operation organized by the Burkina Faso Armed Forces, killing four civilians and nine VDP militiamen. The Burkinabe government claimed that thirty-four insurgents were killed immediately after the attack.
In early July 2022, two separate massacres occurred in Bourasso, Kossi Province and Namissiguima Department, Yatenga Province in Burkina Faso. The massacre in Bourasso killed 22 people, and the one in Namissiguima killed 12.
On the night between December 31, 2018, and January 1, 2019, alleged Ansarul Islam jihadists attacked the village of Yirgou, in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso. While initial reports claimed the attack killed six people, including the village chief and his son, later reports and investigations showed up to 210 people were killed.
On December 7, 2022, ten Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland militants, a Burkinabe civilian militia, were killed at a market in Boala Department, Centre-Nord Region, Burkina Faso. A second attack on December 10 killed seven civilians.
On December 30, 2022, dozo militants affiliated with the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) killed over 88 civilians in Nouna, Burkina Faso.
On January 28, 2023, suspected Islamic State jihadists attacked Burkinabe soldiers and Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) militiamen in the city of Falagountou, Burkina Faso.
Between November 2019 and June 2020, the bodies of over 180 civilians were discovered in and around the city of Djibo, Burkina Faso. Most of the killings targeted Fulani, and were committed by Burkinabe Armed Forces, Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), and Defense and Security Forces (FDS). Several mass graves were made for the victims in March and April 2020.
The JNIM-ISGS war is an ongoing armed conflict between Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISGS), the Sahelian branches of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State respectively, and, to some extent, Islamic State – Algeria Province (ISAP). Since ISGS' formation in October 2016 and the creation of the JNIM coalition in 2017, the two groups had been described as the Sahelien exception or Sahelien anomaly: despite the global war between al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates since the latter's splinter from the former in 2014, both ISGS and JNIM have ignored each other and in rare cases worked together against Malian, Nigerien, Burkinabe, French, and international governments and non-Islamist militias until 2020.
On April 26, 2021, jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara killed eighteen civilians in Yattakou, Seno Province, Burkina Faso, sparking a mass exodus from the area.
On April 15, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked a group of Burkinabe soldiers and civilian volunteers in the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) near Aorema, Yatenga Province, Burkina Faso, killing at least forty soldiers and VDP and injuring over thirty others. The attack occurred a month after a massacre against civilians by JNIM in Aorema that killed fourteen. Following the attack, Burkinabe soldiers searching for the perpetrators of the April attack killed over 130 civilians in the Karma massacre.
Burkina Faso