Siege of Madjoari

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Siege of Madjoari
Part of Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso
DateFebruary 2021 - May 25, 2022
Location
Madjoari, Kompienga Province, Burkina Faso
Result

Jihadist victory

  • Madjoari falls under jihadist control after offensive in late May
  • Singou massacre
Belligerents

Flag of Burkina Faso.svg Burkina Faso

Islamic State flag.svg Ansarul Islam
Islamic State flag.svg Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin
Casualties and losses
12+ killed
22+ injured		 15 killed (May 19 attack only, per Burkina Faso)
70+ killed (May 19 attack only, per survivor)
77+ killed
50+ missing
15,000+ displaced (100% of Madjoari)

The siege of Madjoari began in February 2021 and lasted until May 25, 2022, as part of the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso. Jihadists from Ansarul Islam and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin began attacking the city, controlled by Burkinabe forces and the pro-government Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), and ambushed Burkinabe troops and cut off supply lines. Civilians in Madjoari starved, and almost all of them fled to elsewhere in Burkina Faso or to Benin. In May 2022, as the siege came to an end, the jihadists overran the Burkinabe military base and then massacred over fifty civilians fleeing in the Singou massacre.

Contents

Background

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been embroiled in an insurgency by the Mali-based Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, the Niger-based Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and the homegrown Burkinabe Ansarul Islam. These insurgent groups began besieging government-controlled towns starting with Arbinda in 2019, and by early 2022 dozens of towns, including provincial capitals, were under siege by JNIM and Ansarul Islam. [1] Sieges became the modus operandi of these groups beginning in 2022, and jihadists often attacked civilians fleeing the areas while also preventing supplies and food from going in and out. [1]

In the early 2020s, JNIM, Ansarul Islam, and ISGS expanded into the southeast of Burkina Faso having been concentrated in the north and northeast for years. [1] When JNIM began expanding to the southeast, they used the siege tactic to create buffer zones of displaced residents so that they didn't have to govern as many residents in an area. [2] When the siege of Madjoari began in February 2021, many villages in Madjoari Department were already under JNIM control. [3]

Siege

Civilian displacement and beginning (February 2021 - May 2022)

Prior to the siege, Madjoari had a population of between 14,000 and 15,000. [4] [1] Amnesty International puts the start of the siege at February 2021, although a protester against the siege interviewed by VOA Africa stated in July 2021 that the town had already been under siege for over a year. [5] On June 29, 2021, the jihadists issued an ultimatum to the chief of Madjoari that if the town's population did not flee, the jihadists would destroy the town and everyone in it. In the ultimatum, the jihadists threatened to blow up the Singou bridge that connects the town to Kompienga, the provincial capital of Kompienga Province where Madjoari is located. [4]

By July 2021, only a thousand residents of Madjoari remained of the original 15,000 or so. Madjoari and the nearby town of Tambarga were the only two places not under direct jihadist control. [4] Many residents fled across the border to Benin. [4] On July 22, a Burkinabe soldier was killed by an IED during a sweeping operation in the forest around Madjoari. [6] Two other soldiers were injured in the explosion. [6] Throughout the rest of 2021 and the first half of 2022, JNIM and Ansarul Islam continued their attacks on civilians and soldiers in Madjoari, with ACLED describing Madjoari department as "the largest buffer zone that JNIM has established." [2]

Intensification

JNIM and Ansarul Islam intensified their attacks on Madjoari in early May 2022. [2] [1] On May 14, jihadists entered the town and killed seventeen people. [7] Five days later on May 19, they led an assault on the Burkinabe military base in Madjoari, which was staffed by Burkinabe forces and VDP militiamen. [8] The base was shelled first, and then the assault began with heavy fighting. [8] 11 Burkinabe soldiers were killed in the battle, and twenty more were wounded. The battle was halted by Burkinabe planes bombing the area, forcing the jihadists to retreat and killing about fifteen fighters. [8] The jihadists, however, were able to overrun the military base which Burkinabe officials called the "last bastion" of the department. [9]

Following the battle at the military base, around 900 civilians remained in Madjoari. [8] However, the remaining civilians fled within the next week, some evacuations organized by remaining Burkinabe soldiers and VDP. [2] [1] On May 25, 2022, jihadists kidnapped over fifty people fleeing Madjoari and Tambarga on a road outside the city near Singou. [1] [10] The refugees were fleeing towards Nadiagou. [1] All of the victims were men, mostly young men, and they were taken into the bushes and shot by the jihadists. [7] Only women, children, and elderly were spared, although there were only four in the group to begin with. [1] A survivor of the siege and massacre stated that around fifty more civilians are missing. [7] Another survivor of the siege added that the massacre was retaliation for the jihadist's failure to capture all of Madjoari during their assault on the base. The jihadists had had meeting in villages in the department, seeking to enact revenge for the deaths of seventy of their comrades killed during the battle. [7] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso</span> Ongoing insurgency in Burkina Faso (2015–present)

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.

On 25 May 2022, jihadists from Ansarul Islam or Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked civilians fleeing the towns of Madjoari and Tabarga, Kompienga Province, Burkina Faso during the siege of Madjoari. The jihadists intercepted the refugees near the town of Singou, and separated the men from the women, elderly, and children. Over fifty civilians were executed by the jihadists, and fifty more were alleged to be missing. The massacre was the culmination of an offensive that began several weeks prior, with jihadists killing seventeen civilians in Madjoari on May 14 and overrunning the Burkinabe base in the town on May 19.

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.

On March 20, 2022, unknown jihadists ambushed Burkinabe soldiers in Natiaboani, Gourma Province, Burkina Faso, killing thirteen soldiers and an unknown number of jihadists.

The battle of Boulikessi took place between September 30 and October 1, 2019. Jihadists from JNIM and Ansarul Islam attacked Malian bases in Boulikessi and Mondoro, killing between 40 and 85 Malian soldiers, making it the deadliest attack for the Malian army since the Second Battle of Kidal in 2014.

On October 29, 2022, gunmen from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin ambushed a convoy of Burkinabé soldiers near the village of Kikideni while they were on their way from Fada N'gourma to Natiaboani, Est Region, Burkina Faso.

Between April 29 and 30, 2017, French forces launched an offensive against jihadists from Ansarul Islam and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin based in the Foulsaré forest in southern Mali. The operation was dubbed Operation Bayard by the French.

On January 12 and 13, 2023, jihadists kidnapped sixty-six people in two separate incidents near Arbinda, Burkina Faso. The abducted civilians were eventually freed by the Burkinabe military on January 20. The kidnappings were the first of their kind to target women during the insurgency.

On January 11, 2023, unknown jihadists killed nine civilians at a mosque in Goulgountou, 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.

On January 28, 2023, suspected Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin militants stopped two buses headed from Banfora to Mangodara near the village of Linguekoro, Comoé Province, Burkina Faso, and killed fifteen passengers.

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.

On December 27, 2018, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked Burkinabe soldiers in Loroni, northern Burkina Faso, killing ten soldiers. The attack was the deadliest incident for Burkinabe forces since the Nassoumbou attack in 2016.

Between November 1 and 17, 2019, French and G5 Sahel troops conducted an operation against the jihadist groups of Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, Ansarul Islam, and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara in Boulikessi, Déou, and Boula along the Malian and Burkinabe borders.

On August 8, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed Burkinabe forces in Dounkoun, Toeni Department, Burkina Faso, killing twelve soldiers.

On August 18, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed a convoy of Burkinabe soldiers and civilians near Boukouma, Séno Province, Burkina Faso. The ambush sparked clashes between the jihadists and the soldiers, leaving dozens dead on both sides. At least 65 civilians were killed in the ambush as well.

On November 14, 2021, jihadists from Ansarul Islam and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked the mining town of Inata, Burkina Faso, the last place in Djibo Department under Burkinabe government control at the time of the attack. The Burkinabe outpost in Inata was overrun and over fifty soldiers were killed. The attack was the deadliest ambush against Burkinabe forces since the start of the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso in 2015, and was a primary reason for the January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état.

On December 23, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Ansarul Islam attacked Burkinabe forces in Titao, Loroum Province, Burkina Faso, killing 41 soldiers. The attack was one of the deadliest attacks against Burkinabe soldiers in the country's history, and occurred just over a month after an attack on Inata killed over fifty soldiers. News of the attack sparked protests across Burkina Faso.

Between January 16 and 23, 2022, French and Burkinabe forces conducted a counter-jihadist operation in and around the cities of Gorom-Gorom and Djibo, both in northern Burkina Faso. The operation was the last major one conducted between French forces and Burkinabe ones before the January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état, and several dozen jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Ansarul Islam were killed or injured.

On May 21, 2022, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked the city of Bourzanga, Burkina Faso, but the attack was repelled by Burkinabe and French forces.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ""Death was slowly creeping on us"" (PDF). Amnesty International. July 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Nsaibia, Heni; Beevor, Eleanor; Berger, Flore (October 2023). "Non-State Armed Groups and Illicit Economies in West Africa: Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin" (PDF). Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and Armed Conflict Location and Event Database. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  3. ↑ Nelson, Robin; Seglin, Lily (October 30, 2021). "A Mixed Method Study on Gender Differentiated Drivers of Violent Extremism in Central Sahel" (PDF). USAID. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Coupée du reste du Faso par les djihadistes, Madjoari se vide de ses habitants". Voice of America (in French). 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  5. ↑ "Des milliers de manifestants marchent contre l'insécurité au Faso". Voice of America (in French). 2021-07-03. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  6. 1 2 "Un soldat burkinabè tué par un engin explosif dans l'est". Voice of America (in French). 2021-07-22. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Au Burkina Faso, l'étau djihadiste se resserre autour de la junte" (in French). 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Onze soldats tués lors de l'attaque de jeudi dans l'est du Burkina Faso". Voice of America (in French). 2022-05-20. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  9. ↑ "Au moins huit morts, dont sept soldats, dans deux attaques au Burkina". Voice of America (in French). 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  10. 1 2 "Burkina Faso: des dizaines d'habitants de Madjoari tués par des hommes non identifiés". RFI (in French). 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
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