Source: http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/
Date: March 2, 2022
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 635
BURKINA FASO: JIHADISTS ESCALATE TERROR IN THE EAST
by Elizabeth Kendal
Saint Kisito de Bougui: before (left and centre) and after (right).
At around 10pm on Thursday 10 February, jihadists on motorbikes stormed Saint Kisito de Bougui, a Catholic seminary for minors in the town of Bougui, some 10km east of Fada N'Gourma (the capital of Gourma Province) in Burkina Faso's East Region. Fortunately, there were no fatalities as the jihadists opted to terrorise and disperse rather than kill the seminarians. They warned the seminarians to leave the area, vowing to kill anyone who remained. In what appears to be part of a campaign to eliminate non-Muslim education, the jihadists torched two dormitories and a classroom, while burning one vehicle and stealing another. They also destroyed a cross, telling the seminarians, 'We don't want to see crosses here.' Opened in 2003 by the diocese of Fada N'Gourma, the Saint Kisito seminary housed seven priests and 146 seminarians. After the attack the seminarians were sent home to their families while arrangements could be made for the seminary to relocate to a more secure area. Having observed their trauma, the vicar-general of the diocese, Abbé Théophile Tindano, remarked that the 'seminarians and priests need psychological support'.
Burkina Faso administrative map showing three named provinces.
The very next day, jihadists torched the public primary school in Boyemlagou, 18km east of Fada N'Gourma. Then, at around 2pm on Monday 14 February, eight jihadists on motorbikes stormed the farming hamlet of Kirpaga, 7km from Fada N'Gourma, and burned the local public primary school. The school had been closed since December 2021 due to threats from jihadists. On Wednesday 16 February several dozen jihadists invaded Namounou village in Burkina Faso's eastern-most Tapoa Province (which borders Gourma to the east). The same thing happened in Yondé, about 15km from Ouargaye (the capital of Boulgou Province, which borders Gourma to the south) in Centre-East Region. In both localities the jihadists preached in the mosque, dictated their terms (submit or perish) and then torched the town hall.
When Roch Marc Christian Kaboré - described by The Guardian as a 'devout Catholic' - was elected president in November 2015, he inherited the mess left behind by his predecessor, the Islamist-sympathiser and terrorist-appeaser Blaise Compaore. The first jihadist terror attack occurred just weeks after Kaboré's election [RLPB 341 (26 Jan 2016)]. For all the good he has done, President Kaboré has not managed to root out the corruption that has crippled the military. Since 2015, jihadists have killed more than 2,000 Burkinabés (including 400 soldiers) and forced more than 1.5 million to flee their homes. The security crisis reached tipping point on 14 November 2021, when jihadists savagely massacred 53 gendarmes in Inata, northern Burkina Faso. When the newspapers reported that the gendarmes had been starving, having been without food rations for two weeks while their superiors ignored their desperate pleas for help, President Kaboré's fate was sealed. Protests erupted on 22 January, followed, on 23 January, by revolts in several army barracks. When the government reported that the situation was under control, the people returned to the streets in anti-government protests. By the evening of 24 January, it was all over. Kaboré had been ousted in a virtually bloodless coup; the military was in control. On 25 January thousands of conflict-weary Burkinabés celebrated in the streets.
Known as the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), the junta is led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba (41). A graduate of the most prestigious military colleges in Ouagadougou and Paris, Damiba has fought on the front-line where he developed strong views on the region's counter-terror operations; views outlined in his book, 'West African Armies and Terrorism: Uncertain Responses?' The junta has appointed a 15-member commission - comprising legal experts, sociologists, economists and military officers - to lead the country through a proposed 30-month transition period after which Burkina Faso will (hopefully) return to constitutional rule. Officially secular, Burkina Faso is roughly 61 percent Muslim (mostly Sunni), 23 percent Christian (19 percent Catholic and 4 percent Protestant) and 15 percent African Traditional Religion, with a history of peaceful co-existence and openness.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:
- protect and bless the vulnerable Christian communities in Burkina Faso's terrorist-infested, conflict-ridden northern and eastern regions; in particular the various churches, schools and health clinics run by Christian mission agencies throughout the region. We pray especially at this time for Saint Kisito de Bougui: may the relocation be seamless and may God supply all their needs. Thank-you merciful Lord, that no-one was killed! (Isaiah 40:9-10)
- use Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba for his good purposes; may security and the constitutional order be restored; and may inter-religious harmony, religious liberty, and openness be preserved. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)