Army Orders Ethnic Massacres in Burkina Faso
The Burkina Faso army led and participated in the massacre of more than 130, possibly many more, ethnic Fulani civilians by pro-government militias in the western Boucle du Mouhoun region in March 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. Mass killings of civilians by government security forces, militias, and Islamist armed groups amount to war crimes and other possible atrocity crimes.
The massacre around the town of Solenzo, which Human Rights Watch previously reported on, occurred during operation “Green Whirlwind 2” (Operation Tourbillon Vert 2), a major weeks-long campaign led by Burkinabè special forces that resulted in widespread civilian deaths and massive displacement of Fulani people. The Al Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, or JNIM) then carried out a series of retaliatory attacks in Sourou province apparently targeting villages the armed group viewed as assisting the military, killing at least 100 civilians.
“The viral videos of the atrocities by pro-government militias near Solenzo sent shock waves through Africa’s Sahel region, but they told only part of the story,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Further research uncovered that Burkina Faso’s military was responsible for these mass killings of Fulani civilians, which were followed by deadly reprisals by an Islamist armed group. The government needs to impartially investigate these deaths and prosecute all those responsible.”
Between March 14 and April 22, 2025, Human Rights Watch interviewed by phone or in person 27 witnesses to the attacks, 2 militia members, and 4 journalists and civil society members. Witnesses came from Solenzo, Larihasso, Pinpissi, and Sanakuy in or at the border with Banwa province, and Gonon, Lanfièra, Mara, and Tiao in Sourou province. Human Rights Watch also reviewed at least 11 videos showing abuses by Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie or VDPs) against Fulani civilians near Solenzo. Additionally, researchers analyzed information detailing such abuses posted on social media and by media outlets.
The Green Whirlwind 2 campaign began on February 27 in Banwa province and continued north toward Sourou province until April 2. Burkinabè and international media reported that Rapid Intervention Battalions 7, 10, 18, and 23, under the command of Rapid Intervention Group 2, took part in the operation, along with hundreds of local VDP militiamen.
Villagers from Banwa province described military operations across several locations over at least six days. The VDPs would shoot in the air or at civilians and loot their cattle, forcing villagers to flee. In the area between the villages of Béna and Lékoro, the army and VDPs blocked their flight in an apparent pincer move, then massacred at least 100 civilians and possibly several hundred trapped in the bush. Witnesses said that most of the victims in Banwa province were women, children, and older people. Military helicopters and drones surveilled the area, indicating direct command control of the operation.
“Thousands of Fulani families from over 20 villages set out for [neighboring] Mali in search of protection,” said a Fulani herder, 44, from Solenzo, whose 8 family members were killed in the attacks beginning on March 8. “However, we couldn’t reach Mali without crossing villages [that were] occupied by the VDPs and the army. The VDPs shot at us like animals, while drones were flying over our heads. Many women and children died because they could not run.”
Villagers said that in the days and weeks prior to the attacks, village chiefs, friends, and even militia members had alerted them that preparations for a military operation were underway and expressed concerns that Fulani civilians would be targeted. “My friend [an ethnic Bobo] who is close to the VDPs told me that the VDPs and the military were getting organized and strengthening their units,” said a man from Sanakuy. “He drove me to the Malian border just one day before the killings.”
Human Rights Watch’s earlier research on the killing of at least 58 Fulani civilians near Solenzo was based on videos filmed by the militiamen. As VDPs walked among dozens of dead bodies, several called for the extermination of the Fulani people.
In a March 15 statement, a government spokesperson said that on March 10, militia and security forces repelled a “terrorist” attack and killed about 100 assailants before chasing stragglers through the bush. He said the security forces and VDPs “took over the forest to dismantle the terrorist base.” They found women, children, and older people “whom the terrorists tried to use as human shields, as well as a large herd of stolen cattle and goats,” and took them to safety. Government media reports stated that the authorities provided shelter and support for 318 displaced people from Solenzo at a reception center in the capital, Ouagadougou.
Witnesses said, however, that there was no fighting near Solenzo between government forces and the Islamist fighters. They also said that the military operation appeared to have been well planned.
Islamist armed groups have concentrated their recruitment efforts on the Fulani community, and the government and its supporters have long conflated the Fulani community with Islamist armed groups.
Fulani witnesses said that they believed the campaign had displaced most Fulani people from Banwa province. “Today, in the whole province, there are no more Fulani – they all fled or were killed or taken hostage,” said a 53-year-old man from Solenzo. “But the other [ethnic] communities remain.”
Following the operations near Solenzo, the military continued toward the northern province of Sourou, which had been under JNIM control for more than seven years. The international media and witnesses reported that the army entered several villages between March 21 and April 2. However, villagers said that the military only stayed in the villages for about two days, leaving people without protection from attack. JNIM fighters then returned and carried out reprisal killings against residents, targeting the men whom it considered to be military collaborators.
“All the men had been executed in front of the health center,” said a 60-year-old woman who witnessed JNIM abuses in Tiao village on April 5. “I counted up to 70 bodies.”
All parties to the armed conflict in Burkina Faso are bound by international humanitarian law, which prohibits attacks on civilians, summary executions, looting, and other abuses. Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent are responsible for war crimes. Murder and other offenses committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population constitute crimes against humanity. Commanders who knew or should have known about serious abuses by their forces and did not take appropriate action may be prosecuted as a matter of command responsibility. Burkina Faso is also a party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other core international human rights treaties.
“The scope of the atrocities committed by government forces, militias, and Islamist armed groups in western Burkina Faso remain grossly overlooked,” Allegrozzi said. “The United Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council should urgently put Burkina Faso high on their agendas and act to protect civilians still at grave risk.”
For additional details of the attacks, please see below.
The abuses by Burkinabè military forces, pro-government militias known as VDPs, and the JNIM took place in March and April 2025 in Banwa and Sourou provinces of the Boucle du Mouhoun (“Bend of the Mouhoun River”) region, western Burkina Faso, and at least one village in Houet province, Hauts-Bassins region.
Banwa Province
Planning for Military Operations
Residents of the Boucle du Mouhoun region said that friends, village chiefs, and militia members had informed them that the Burkina Faso military was planning a large-scale operation in Banwa province.
A Fulani man, 50, from Lahirasso said that on the evening of March 7, a traditional leader “called us in private and advised us to leave, because an operation by the VDPs and the military was under way and that if they found us, it would be bad for us.”
A Fulani herder in his 40s who fled the village of Pinpissi on March 10 said that, about two weeks before he left his village, “we noticed that the VDPs were holding many meetings,” and that some of his ethnic Bobo friends who joined the VDPs told him what was being discussed in these meetings. “They said that the VDPs wanted to kill all Fulani, that for them ending terrorism means killing all Fulani people.… They told us that we better leave because a big military operation would soon be carried out in the area.”
Forced Displacement
Witnesses said that from March 7 until at least March 12, VDP militias attacked Fulani civilians in various towns and villages, including Lahirasso, Pinpissi, Solenzo, and Sanakuy, causing thousands of people to flee into the bush.
A Fulani man, 45, from Lahirasso village said that on March 7 and 8, “VDPs started chasing us by shooting everywhere and taking our cattle, so we had to leave.” A Fulani man, 50, from Solenzo, said that on March 8 at about 5 a.m., VDPs stormed the eastern outskirts of the town where many Fulani families lived, “shooting, looting our animals, and forcing us to abandon our homes.” A Fulani herder, 60, from Sanakuy village said that on March 10, “we had no choice but to leave [because] between 4 and 5 p.m., VDPs began shooting in the air until about 6 p.m., when we took our baggage and left.”
Summary Executions
Witnesses said that between March 8 and 12, VDP attacks caused a mass flight of Fulani people, who attempted to reach the Malian border for safety. But few were able to cross the border because the VDPs, along with the military, ensnared them in the bush and either killed them on the spot or captured and later executed them. They said most of the killings occurred between the villages of Béna and Lékoro, which are 14 kilometers apart in Banwa province.
The 44-year-old Fulani herder from Solenzo said VDPs attacked his group on March 8 between Béna and Lékoro. “Fulani were everywhere, and they would keep coming,” he said. “Suddenly, at around 10 a.m., the VDPs and the military attacked us. They started shooting.… When the shots rang out, we dispersed.… I lost eight family members, including my son.”
“We were very worried … knowing that few had managed to cross Béna without being intercepted,” said a Fulani man, 30, from Pinpissi who survived a VDP attack on March 11 in the same area. He said that “between 6 and 7 a.m., the VDPs on about 10 motorcycles came, opened fire on us. We heard constant gunfire.… Sometimes bursts, sometimes more sporadic.”
A man, 60, from Sanakuy, said VDPs attacked his group on March 11 near Béna: “I saw a lot of VDPs coming, shooting at us indiscriminately.… We ran. But they chased us, caught some of us and executed them.”
Human Rights Watch geolocated a video showing armed men wearing uniforms reading Groupe d’autodéfense de Mahouna (Mahouna Self-Defense Group) and Force Rapide de Kouka (Kouka Rapid Force)-identifiable as VDPs-throwing a man onto a three-wheeled vehicle loaded with what appears to be at least 10 dead or dying men and women. The video was recorded close to a dry riverbed crossing just east of the village of Mahouna, about 10 kilometers west of Béna. At the end of the video, the truck departs in the direction of Béna.
Death Toll
Human Rights Watch was not able to estimate a total death toll for the attacks in Banwa province because survivors had not been able to return to the areas where the killings occurred to bury the dead. They believe that hundreds died or went missing, which they determined by comparing the number of people who reached safety with the numbers of people who fled their respective villages, or by counting how many relatives each family had lost.
“When the VDPs and the army stopped chasing us, we gathered one by one, at nightfall, near Kouka,” said the 44-year-old Fulani man from Solenzo who witnessed the March 8 attack. “Everyone began to look for their relatives and that is how we established the death toll of more than 40 killed on the spot in Béna.”
A Fulani man, 50, who survived the same attack in Béna on March 8 said:
A 45-year-old man from Lahirasso said that one of his relatives and 10 of his friends were killed and that he believed hundreds were killed or disappeared. “There were thousands of us walking toward Mali and after the attack by VDPs and soldiers, our number had considerably decreased.”
A man, 30, from Pinpissi, said that VDPs attacked his group of over 100 people, on March 11 near Béna. “There was intense shooting, some people fled, but many were shot and killed,” he said. “When we crossed the border, we found out that at least 18 people had gone missing, including four children, two women, and one man.”
A religious leader from Solenzo who consulted several people from various villages affected by the operation said: “All the people I spoke with provided a death toll that started from 300 and up.”
Human Rights Watch was unable to independently verify the figures from witnesses.
Human Rights Watch received eight lists of people killed in the attacks. These lists were compiled by survivors and have the names of a total of 130 victims, including at least 32 children ages between 1 month and 17; 30 women, ages 23 to 70; and 68 men, ages 20 to 80. Of the 130 victims, 34 were from Solenzo, 38 from Lahirasso, 19 from Sanakuy, and 39 from Pinpissi. Witnesses who viewed the 11 videos, previously analyzed for the Human Rights Watch March 14 report, said they recognized 14 people.
Role of the Military
Witnesses described the direct participation of the Burkina Faso army as well as VDPs in the operation. Two villagers said that, alongside VDPs, they saw soldiers attacking people near Béna. “We were hiding under a tree when the soldiers passed by with their vehicles and the VDPs on motorcycles,” said a Fulani woman, 50, about the March 8 attack.
All of the witnesses interviewed said they saw camouflage-patterned military helicopters, and many also said they saw gray drones circling overhead while the operation was ongoing and while the VDPs committed killings.
“When the shooting stopped, we attempted to go back to where we had been ambushed to look for survivors or to bury the dead,” said a 40-year-old man from Pinpissi who witnessed the March 11 attack near Béna. “But a military helicopter was flying over us, so we gave up.”
Targeting of Civilians on an Ethnic Basis
Witnesses consistently described the military operation as a “hunt for Fulani” and said that all the victims were ethnic Fulani civilians.
The 50-year-old Fulani man from Solenzo said:
The 50-year-old woman from Solenzo said: “I heard the VDPs saying in the Djoula language: ‘Nobody will escape! Look for the Fulani everywhere. We are going to kill all Fulani.'”
These accounts corroborate statements heard in the videos reviewed by Human Rights Watch that include VDP militiamen calling for the “extermination” of the Fulani people.
In a March 18 interview with a Senegalese newspaper, Adama Dieng, the African Union Special Envoy on the Prevention of Genocide and Other Mass Atrocities, said that he was “profoundly shocked” by the killings of civilians around Solenzo and that “targeting individuals based on their ethnicity is a reprehensible act that must be punished by national, continental, and international authorities.” He said that the authorities should investigate the killings with the support of external partners including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the United Nations.
The reported ethnic-based slurs against the Fulani also prompted the prosecutor of the High Court in Ouagadougou to issue a statement on March 20 informing the population that “calls for the extermination of people belonging to an ethnic group, on grounds that these people are terrorists … constitute grave threats to peace and social cohesion,” as well as “offenses of discrimination,” and announcing the opening of investigations aimed at apprehending those responsible.
Sourou Province
Military Operation
Around March 21, Burkinabè security forces participating in Operation Green Whirlwind 2 reached Sourou province, which the JNIM had been controlling for at least the past seven years. Witnesses described a major operation involving hundreds of soldiers and militiamen, drones, helicopters, and armored vehicles. They said friends, relatives, and JNIM fighters had warned them that the operation was being organized, and after hearing of the attacks in Banwa province, caused them to fear for their own safety.
An ethnic Mossi man, 47, from Gonon said:
Social media posts and witnesses reported that beginning March 21, the army and VDPs entered several villages and towns, including Di, Gonon, Gouran, Guiédougou, Lanfièra, Mara, and Tiao, and claimed to have liberated them from the JNIM. A video published on social media on March 22 and geolocated by Human Rights Watch shows people celebrating in Guiédougou. However, witnesses and the media said that the military quickly withdrew, leaving the villages without protection, and that the JNIM returned and retaliated against civilians.
“The military came, they put on their show.… with motorcycles, tanks, helicopters, and they left for Tougan,” said a 49-year-old man from Tiao village. “And then the jihadists [JNIM fighters] came back to surround the village and kill people. The army left us at the mercy of the jihadists.”
Deadly JNIM Reprisals in Gonon, Lanfièra, Mara, and Tiao
In a video posted on social media on March 14, a man identified as Ousmane Dicko, brother of Jaffar Dicko, head of the JNIM in Burkina Faso, threatened to avenge the killings of civilians around Solenzo.
On April 1, the JNIM attacked Lanfièra, a village mostly populated by ethnic Mossi, Bobo, and Dafing, at about 5 p.m. Two witnesses said that the fighters started shooting, causing many villagers to flee. They then went door-to-door taking all men who had not left.
“My husband and his brother hid in the house while I stayed in front of the door,” said a woman, 36, from Lanfièra. “Three jihadists … asked me if there were any men in the house. I said no, but right then my husband walked out followed by his brother. The jihadists took them north of the village. This was the last time I saw them.” The woman said that the fighters ordered her out of the village and that when she was about to leave, she heard multiple gunshots.
Human Rights Watch reviewed a list compiled by survivors with the names of at least 13 civilians killed by the JNIM in Lanfièra on April 1, all males ages 16 to 55.
On April 5, the JNIM killed over 100 people in three coordinated attacks on the villages of Gonon, Mara, and Tiao, mostly populated by ethnic Mossi, Bobo, and Dafing, near the Mali border, and looted homes. Nine witnesses from the three villages said that hundreds of JNIM fighters riding motorbikes entered the villages between 4 and 6 p.m., went door-to-door, ordered men to gather in one place, and then opened fire on them.
A woman, 30, from Tiao said she was home with her husband, 40, and father, 65, when two JNIM fighters appeared:
A woman, 32, from Gonon said she was home with her husband, 36, and two children when two young JNIM fighters appeared:
A woman, 60, from Tiao said she was home with her sick husband, 80, and son, 35, when JNIM fighters knocked at her door. “They might have come with lists because they called my son by his name. They ordered him to go with them to the health center but left my husband.” She said that she heard intense shooting from 6 to 8 p.m. when “all survivors, mainly women and children started to leave.” She said she opted to stay because of her sick husband and remained in the village for four days. “The village was empty. The jihadists returned the day after the massacre to loot homes.”
A Bobo woman, 34, from Mara said villagers started hearing gunshots at about 6 p.m. from the direction of Tiao, two and half kilometers away. “When we started packing our things to leave, we heard people screaming ‘The jihadists are coming!'” she said. “Gunshots were getting closer to us. I saw the jihadists coming, in big numbers, on their motorbikes.” The woman said she fled Mara and later learned that the men who did not or could not flee were rounded up and executed.
The witnesses from the villages believed that the attacks were retaliation against male residents whom the JNIM accused of collaborating with the army, including by indicating a willingness to join the VDPs. The 49-year-old man from Tiao said:
Online media reported that men in the Sourou province had registered to join the VDPs, and that this list had been obtained by the JNIM, although Human Rights Watch could not confirm this.
Summarily executing anyone in custody, including those who had joined militia forces, is a war crime.
The 60-year-old woman from Tiao said that she walked to the health center where she found “at least 70 bodies of men, including the one of my son,” and that she also saw more bodies “scattered across the village.”
Witnesses from Tiao provided a list with the names of 32 victims, all ethnic Bobo and Mossi men and boys, ages 15 to 50. They said that the list was partial and reiterated that at least 70 civilians were killed.
The total number of people that the JNIM forces killed in the three attacks is unclear. Witnesses in Gonon said that they did not see the bodies of those killed because they fled after the massacre, but that they estimate the number of victims at over 70.
A man from Gonon said:
A 45-year-old man from Mara who fled the village when JNIM fighters approached, said that survivors of the attack later told him that the JNIM had killed at least 20 men.
The international media and social media publications reported the death toll of the JNIM attacks in Sourou province in early April could reach 200.
Displacement
Witnesses from Gonon, Lanfièra, Mara, and Tiao said that villagers fled the area to seek refuge in neighboring Mali.
The 32-year-old women from Gonon said:
“There’s no one left. People have dispersed. All the villages in the Sourou valley have fled,” said the 49-year-old man from Tiao. “Our village is completely empty; the men have been killed, and the houses have been looted.”
“The whole village fled,” said the 34-year-old Bobo woman from Mara. “Everyone has abandoned Mara.”
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Locator map of Solenzo, Burkina Faso. © 2025 Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/05/12/burkina-faso-army-directs-ethnic-massacres