Junta Critic Forcibly Enlisted to Fight Jihadists

A civil society activist has been summoned by the authorities in Burkina Faso and forcibly conscripted to join the defense and security forces to fight against jihadists.

The conscription occurred on March 22, a week after Boukaré Ouedraogo, who leads the civil society group Mouvement l’Appel de Kaya, made a critical media review of the security situation in the country. He had also questioned the gains made in the war by the junta led by Captain Ibrahim Traore.

Ouedraogo criticised the war effort during a press conference on March 16, 2023.

Following the remarks, Ouedraogo was summoned to appear before the President, who was on a working visit to the town of Kaya, about 100 metres north of Ouagadougou. After his interrogation, he was picked up by the military and was thought to have been arrested only for pictures to emerge a few days later showing him in military uniform undergoing training in a military camp.