Burkina Faso: More suffering for Christians
Murder of two scouts and the expulsion of Christians in the northwest of the country
Terrorists have forced the Christian population of Débé in Burkina Faso to leave their village and earlier killed two scouts in the village church for resisting their orders. This incident was reported by Bishop Prosper B. Ky during a visit to the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
In mid-October, terrorists gave the Christians of Débé, a village in Burkina Faso, 72 hours to leave their village. “There has never been anything like this before,” said Bishop Ky, who heads the Diocese of Dédougou. “Up until now, the whole village was driven out, not just the members of a particular religion.”
For almost a decade, Burkina Faso has been subject to Islamist-linked terrorism. The terrorist attacks began in the north of the country and are now more common in some regions than in others, but no province is spared. According to Bishop Ky, the terrorists, who are called unidentified armed men — hommes armés non identifiés – in Burkina Faso, have a decisive influence on people’s everyday lives. They force men to wear trousers to their ankles and women to wear long clothes and veils. The population lives according to their rules out of fear of punishment, which can even mean execution.
Tragic escalation of violence
The bishop said that terrorists in Débé have forbidden all contact with Tougan, a town 30 miles from where the Burkinabe army is based. Yet, at the beginning of the school year, the children of Débé had to go to Tougan, because the terrorists closed the schools in the village. Young people accompanied them under the protection of an armed convoy, said Bishop Ky. However, two of these young people – scouts from Débé – returned alone and did not avoid the area controlled by the terrorists. So they were discovered and held by the militants.
“They took them back to their village, ordered the church to be opened, and shot one dead in front of the altar, and the other in front of the statue of Mary,” the bishop emotionally recalled.
According to the bishop, the young people were murdered first and foremost because they disobeyed the terrorists, who prescribed the route to Tougan, and secondly, due to their status as scouts, who continued their activities despite a ban. These activities gave them the appearance of Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland, which the Burkinabe government set up to support the army and police in their fight against the terrorists.
“Due to the desecration of the church caused by the murders, we moved the Blessed Sacrament to another place until a Mass of atonement could be celebrated,” said the bishop. This measure obviously angered the terrorists and was not without consequence. Bishop Ky shared the testimony of a Christian who fled from Débé: “Three weeks after the murders, armed men came back and asked us to pray in the church, even though it was desecrated. We refused, and that was why we were driven out of the village.”
Many towns and villages in Burkina Faso now stand empty because of the expulsions. As Bishop Ky reported, internally displaced people roam the streets with all their worldly goods, looking for somewhere to stay. In the Diocese of Dédougou, there are hundreds of thousands of IDPs, and the life of the Church has been deeply affected.
“The state is doing everything it can to root oust the evil and drive out the terrorists. We know, however, that the solution cannot be purely military. We offer our heartfelt thanks to all the donors of ACN who support us and make it possible for us to alleviate the sufferings of the people in this difficult situation,” said the bishop. “We ask for prayer and implore the Lord to send peace to Burkina Faso, to West Africa, and to the whole world.”
—Sina Hartert
