The European Union (EU) has called for an investigation into what is described as a “massacre” in Burkina Faso, where around 100 people, including women and children, are believed to have been killed in the village of Zaongo in the central east of the country. The EU’s statement, issued by a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, urged the transitional authorities in Burkina Faso to investigate and bring accountability to the circumstances surrounding the killings.
According to Jeune Afrique, a news magazine focused on Africa, the mass killing occurred on November 6 and was carried out by unidentified assailants. Social media posts in Burkina Faso have circulated images of the corpses of women and children said to be residents of Zaongo.
Molly Phee, the head of African Affairs at the US State Department, expressed shock and sadness over the news of the massacre, condemning the attack and calling for Burkina Faso’s junta to investigate. Burkina Faso is currently governed by a transitional government established after a coup in September 2022.
The West African country has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency that originated in neighboring Mali in 2015, resulting in over 17,000 civilian and military casualties and displacing two million people. The junta-led government has been conscripting men over 18 for the anti-jihadist fight.
This incident follows a similar tragedy in April, where Burkina Faso authorities initiated an investigation into the massacre of 136 people, half of them women and children, in the northern town of Karma. Men wearing military uniforms were reportedly responsible for that attack. Captain Ibrahim Traore, Burkina’s transitional president, cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions about the army’s involvement in the recent massacre in Zaongo.