[ad_1]
Hear this story:
Dori, Burkina Faso- Hiding on his bus, watching armed men killing people below, the only thought that comforted Abdullaya Diallo was that if he died on Friday, the holy day of Islam, he would go to heaven.
“I know I will be killed…[but] If I die on Friday, my paradise will definitely be guaranteed,” Diallo told Al Jazeera as he was sitting in Dori, Burkina Faso, where he fled to a small town in the Sahel region of the country. “So, I recited some Quranic verses while waiting for my death on the bus. “
That June night, the 28-year-old bus driver’s assistant was spending time in Sol Khan, a regular stop on his weekly transport route, when the attacker stormed into the parking lot where he slept and started execution people.
Then they hijacked the bus he was riding in, drove it through town while he was hiding on the roof, and set it alight. Diallo almost escaped, and the gunman shot him as he escaped.
In the past five years, violent incidents related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) have caused thousands of deaths and displaced more than 1.4 million people in this once peaceful West African country.
Although there has been a calm window surrounding the November 2020 presidential election, as a result of a temporary ceasefire agreement reached between the government and some armed groups, attacks have resumed and are increasing, especially those targeting civilians.
According to data from the Armed Conflict Sites and Incident Data Project (ACLD), compared with January to April, the number of civilian deaths from May to August surged by more than 300%, from 80 to 335, with June and April August is the deadliest month.
In July, children walk over firewood in the town of Dori in the Sahel [Sam Mednick/Al Jazeera]The attack on the mining town of Solhan in Yagha Province was one of the worst attacks in the country since the beginning of the fighting. Locals said that in the early morning of June 4, at least 160 people were massacred. The gunmen, including the women and children who fought alongside them, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for God is great) before entering the town and entered the mining area to shoot everyone in sight.
In July, survivors told Al Jazeera that bodies were still found in the mines where people had taken refuge, and that the number of people killed may be much higher than recorded.
Although Sol Khan has been attacked by armed men before, residents said that civilians have never been harmed in the past. The police station was attacked twice at the end of 2019, resulting in the death of a police officer. In October last year, the attackers burned down a school and warned teachers and students not to go to school.
It is not clear why so many civilians were targeted in the June attack. Some conflict analysts attribute it to a combination of multiple factors. According to ACLED senior researcher Heni Nsaibia, these may include: continuing efforts to control and cut off the population of Yagha-some nearby towns have been blocked for several months; retaliation against villages that support the country’s volunteer fighters-fighting side by side with the army Armed civilians; and Jama’at Nasr al-Islam walMuslimin (JNIM), a group associated with Al-Qaida, lacks cohesion within.
Although JNIM publicly denied responsibility for the attack, it is believed that this was done by a group associated with them.
“The Solhan incident emphasized the importance of the local environment and how the environment shaped highly autonomous radical forces, and raised questions about decision-making and loyalty in a violent, competitive, and fast-paced environment. For example, the Solhan massacre occurred. “Nsaibia said. “The division of these groups may have a negative impact on the conflict, such as targeting more civilians.”
Witness a massacre
When Diallo heard the gunshots for the first time that night in June, he thought it was a volunteer soldier who had arrested a thief. But as the voice grew louder, he saw people running away and heard their screams, he realized that things were much worse.
He said, looking at the phone, it was 2:10 in the morning, Diallo saw an injured man staggering into the station with his bleeding belly in his hands. Following him is a group of armed men on bicycles.
“They rode into the bus stop on their motorcycles and then dispersed… I could hear them saying,’Boureima turned off the bicycle, Harouna turned off the bicycle,'” he recalled.
Diallo said the men pulled the two people from the bottom of the car where they slept, told them to kneel on the ground and hand over the keys. He added that one of the assailants tried to drive their vehicle but was unsuccessful but slammed it into a wall, while the other assailant radioed to a commander named Raheem to ask how to deal with these. Human instructions.
“The jihadists first asked their commander what they should do with these two young men… and got a response via the intercom:’Kill all of them, don’t let anyone go.'”
These people were shot dead immediately.
Aerial view of the Sahel [Sam Mednick/Al Jazeera]The attacker then found two more people. Diallo said that when he knelt in front of them, they killed the first one and tied the other’s hands behind his back. When they were about to kill him, they recited the verses from the Quran, but while they prayed, the man escaped.
When the blood leaked into the ground, Diallo stared at the lifeless corpse, worried that he would be the next one, and was ready for death. He wanted to escape, but worried that if he tried and was killed, his body would never be found.
“I know I will die, but [I thought] Let me not die far away from here. I want to make sure that my relatives can find my body,” he said.
But a few hours passed, and somehow the attackers still did not see Diallo, even though they climbed into the driver’s seat of the bus he was riding in and began chaotically through the town. They smashed shops, stole mobile phones and other items. They yelled at each other and ordered some members to destroy the telecommunications tower.
At the same time, Diallo clung to the roof of the bus, trying to stay hidden without falling. “They can’t even drive,” he said.
When the attackers seemed satisfied with what they took, they drove back to the station.
However, Diallo felt that any relief that the bus had stopped would soon be overshadowed by the smell of gas. They lit the bus and the fire rose rapidly. “The fire is getting bigger and bigger, the car horn rang…[I thought] I would rather be killed by jihadists than die in the fire,” he said.
In search of the best place to jump off, Diallo landed a few feet away from where the gunman was standing, and then fled, but they shot him in vain.
Turning point
When Diallo fled, the sun had risen, but the army had not yet arrived. Even when they arrived at around 6 in the morning, they did not pursue the attacker, but stayed in the town and fired warning shots into the air. Diallo said that they left before sunset that day, which allowed the armed men to return the next day to continue the robbery.
Residents of Solhan said they were angry with the army. Hama Amadou, another Solhan survivor who now lives in Dori, said that someone had warned of a possible attack a few weeks ago.
Residents also said that when the attackers arrived, volunteer fighters alerted the army, but still received no support.
“Be a volunteer [fighters] Hearing gunfire, they called the army and warned them. The military told them to escape,” Amadou said. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify this information, but several survivors living in Dori said that the army had learned of the attack in advance and volunteer fighters immediately sought help.
The military did not respond to a request for comment, but a senior official in Dori who was not authorized to talk to the media told Al Jazeera that the detachment in the nearby town of Seba received a call, but the call was broken in front of the volunteers to explain what happened. what. He said the army did not know that the attack was taking place and had never been warned before.
Burkina Faso’s poorly equipped and inadequately trained army has been struggling to fight armed groups, and people’s dissatisfaction has grown across the country, triggering widespread protests and demanding stronger action from the government. To contain insecurity.
Soldiers patrolled the streets during an opposition-led protest in the capital Ouagadougou in July [Sam Mednick/Al Jazeera]In July, President Roque Mark Christian Kabore fired his Minister of Defense and Security, and briefly appointed himself as Minister of Defense; in August, the Ministry of Defense announced that it would overhaul its counter-terrorism strategy.
Locals said that Sol Khan was a turning point in the country’s fight against these armed groups linked to Al-Qaida/ISIL.
“People realize that this conflict is special, difficult and complex, and people [becoming] The demands are getting higher and higher…We believe that the impact will be greater than we thought,” said Jacob Jarabiaura, professor of sociology and researcher at Ouagadougou Joseph Kizerbo University.
He said that the scale of the attack not only shocked people across the country, especially in areas not accustomed to violence, but also revealed operational problems within the military.
He added that the challenge now is to learn from what happened and remain vigilant. “When the problem seems to be completed, it is easy for people to forget the problem. I’m afraid [in a few months] People forget the problems they endure and start to live as if nothing happened. “
But those who survived the bloodshed said they could not shake what they saw. Although some people have returned to Sol Khan to try to rebuild their lives, Diallo said he will not go back unless the military proves that it can protect people.
“I don’t believe in the defense and security forces, they don’t do their job,” he said. “The country is being invaded by jihadists…[and] The crisis continues because the government is unable to fight. “
[ad_2]
Source link