It may be passing the attention of much of the world, but Africa is become the principal battleground involving Islamic terrorism. We knew about Somalia with Al Shabaab and Nigeria with Boko Haram, but from Mali to the Congo to Mozambique to Niger to Burkina Faso, bands of Al Qaeda and ISIS-affiliated jihadists are attacking villages, killing the inhabitants, including women and children on the spot, often by beheading, or taking them as slaves.
The most recent news in this area has just come out of the West African nation of Burkina Faso, which is a small country bordering on, among others, the aforementioned Mali and Niger. Formerly called the Upper Volta, it is a former French colony whose official language is French. (There are many local languages commonly spoken by the majority of the country's citizens.) According to the 2006 census, about 60% of the people are Muslim (mostly Sunni), and about 23% are Christian.
Today, the government of Burkina Faso has announced the deaths of 132 villagers. For English-language readers, you can read about the most recent massacre here from Reuters.
Full disclosure: I do not consider myself an expert on Africa, and the only country on the continent I have ever visited is Egypt. Given the events in the above-mentioned countries, in recent weeks, I have been checking the local online news sources in these countries, most of which appear in the former colonial languages of French and Portuguese (Mozambique). In a few cases, we have translated the local news articles.
This should not be considered extensive research because there are many news outlets in these countries, and by no means have I exhaustively checked all. I have, however, come away with an impression (perhaps, erroneously), but it seems striking to me that the news outlets for these countries are not extensively reporting these massacres. Rather than immediately finding these stories splashed on the front page, one has to search, often in vain. This seems to be especially the case in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Of course, I realize that in many, if not most of these countries, the press is controlled by the government. Maybe these governments don't want the populace to know just how bad things are in parts of the country they cannot effectively control. That is speculation on my part.
At any rate, returning to Burkina Faso, in checking about a dozen of the French-language newspapers online, this is what I found from one news site. It is from Sidwaya and is in French. Translation by Fousesquawk.
Sebba: About 100 civilians killed at Solhan, the president of Faso decrees a national period of mourning of 72 hours
The village of Solhan was plunged into mourning on the night of 4-5 June, 2021 by armed individuals. This attack, perpetrated against civilian populations, took a heavy toll. A government communique refers to a provisional toll, established by a detachment patrol of Sebba, of about 100 civilians who were killed without distinction to age. Several homes and the market were also set on fire.
In the face of this tragedy by obscure forces, states the communique, a national day of mourning of 72 hours, beginning today 5 June at 00:00 to Monday, 7 June at 23:59 is decreed. The communique, signed by the spokesman of the government, Ousseni Tamboura, points out that defense forces and security (forces) are (working) to neutralize the terrorists and restore peace to the people.
And that the government bows before the memory of the victims and wishes a prompt recovery to the wounded. It promises that these crimes will not go unpunished.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there are any Africa experts reading this, I would appreciate any input from you as to local African press coverage especially in Burkina Faso and the other aforementioned countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment