A member of a political movement that denounced civilian massacres blamed on Burkina Faso’s army and allied militias was kidnapped on Tuesday near the capital Ouagadougou, his organisation said.
“The Servir et Non Se Servir (SENS) movement expresses its deepest indignation and deep concern in the face of … the brutal kidnapping of Idrissa Barry, a member of its national coordination, today,” the civil society organisation turned political movement said.
It said Barry was kidnapped while he was in a meeting in the town hall of Saaba near the capital.
“This act of enforced disappearance, in broad daylight and in an administrative compound, constitutes a serious violation of human rights and a direct threat to all critical voices,” SENS said, calling for Barry’s immediate release.
Early this week, SENS had condemned videos showing the alleged massacres of Fulani civilians in Solenzo in the country’s west which were attributed to the army and allied fighters combating jihadists.
“How can one justify such punitive expeditions against defenceless populations whose sole crime is to belong to an ethnic group,” it had said.
Burkinabe authorities had denied the accusations.
Primarily nomadic herders, the Fulani people are often stigmatised across the wider Sahel, accused of collaborating with the jihadists who stalk the region and providing the bulk of their recruits.
Since Wednesday, videos of dozens of bloodied bodies strewn across the ground, with no apparent sign of life and hands and feet bound, have spread across social media. Most of the victims appear to be women, children or elderly.
In one video men armed with assault rifles and blood-stained knives, wearing T-shirts appearing to mark them out as members of local self-defence groups, are seen straddling the corpses on the ground, hurling insults at them.
“No filming,” a voice orders the person behind the camera, who immediately complies.
In another video, the same armed men drive a three-wheeled vehicle loaded with lifeless bodies towards an unknown destination.
In the past decade, Burkina Faso has been caught up in a spiral of jihadist violence spilling over from neighbouring Mali and Niger, which has since spread far beyond the three countries’ borders.
All three have experienced coups in recent years by military rulers who have pledged to turn the tables on the Islamist groups.
Since 2015 the unrest has killed more than 26,000 people, both civilians and soldiers, across Burkina Faso, according to conflict monitor ACLED.
In February the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders accused Burkina Faso of using “abductions, illegal confinements, enforced disappearances and torture” to silence critical voices.
© Agence France-Presse
