Ouagadougou, July 11, 2019 – Burkina Faso’s parliament on Thursday extended by six months until January a state of emergency imposed in provinces grappling with jihadist violence. The poor Sahel state has been battling a rising wave of jihadist attacks over the last four years which began in the north but have since spread to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin. The state of emergency applies to 14 provinces lying within seven of the country’s 13 administrative regions.
The state of emergency, imposed in December for a six-month period gives additional powers to the security forces to carry out searches of homes and to restrict freedom of movement and assembly. The extension until January 12 “aims at buttressing the fight against insecurity and gives the security and defence forces more opportunities and means to pursue” their goals, the parliament said.
Most attacks in the former French colony are attributed to the jihadist group Ansarul Islam, which emerged near the Mali border in December 2016, and to the JNIM (Group to Support Islam and Muslims), which has sworn allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Those groups are believed to be responsible for more than 450 deaths since 2015. The capital Ouagadougou has been attacked three times.
By AFP
