Jihadist base ‘dismantled’ in southern Burkina Faso after first cross-border military effort

AN Islamist militant camp in southern Burkina Faso was “dismantled” by a joint military effort by Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, said Bloomberg News.

The action was the first such joint operation between the West African neighbours. It is intended to curb the spread of jihadist attacks, the newswire said.

In November, a convoy of five buses travelling to the Boungou mine owned by Canadian firm SEMAFO was attacked. It resulted in the murder of 39 people whilst 60 others were injured. SEMAFO is now the subject of a takeover by Endeavour Mining.

Whilst Endeavour Mining has said tensions in the region were being successfully managed, other mining firms, such as Centamin, have voiced their concerns regarding investing in the region. “A few years ago there was a lot open, but now the world has become difficult,” said Martin Horgan, CEO of Centamin on his ambitions for investing in West Africa.

Armed groups with links to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have claimed hundreds of lethal attacks in West Africa over the last five years. According to a report by International Crisis Group, an NGO based in Brussels, gold mining operations in West Africa’s Sahel zone are helping finance Islamist militant groups.

Reporting on the joint military action, Bloomberg News said soldiers had killed eight suspected militants and seized automatic weapons, ammunition, motorbikes and cell phones at the base in Alidougou in southern Burkina. Several dozen others were captured.

Attacks in southwestern Burkina Faso have doubled in the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2019, said Bloomberg citing Heni Nsaibia, a senior researcher at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Although jihadist attacks in Côte d’Ivoire, the economic powerhouse of French-speaking West Africa, have been rare, it’s among several coastal nations that are under increasing threat from militants based in the Sahel to the north, said Bloomberg.