Ce rapport établit d'une part une comparaison et une interconnexion entre l'évolution du conflit au Mali à la suite des Accords de paix de Bamako, signés en 2015, et la propagation des dynamiques conflictuelles au Burkina Faso. Il présente d'autre part les enjeux sociaux, économiques et politiques propres au Burkina Faso et contribuant au délitement de la situation sécuritaire de ce pays. Ce rapport présente l'accumulation de griefs et de frustrations, subis et exprimés par les populations agro-pastorales des régions burkinabè du Sahel et de l'Est, comme le principal moteur de la rupture avec les représentations de l'autorité étatique. Cette rupture constitue le point d'ancrage au Burkina Faso pour les groupes armés transnationaux et les protagonistes du conflit malien. L'instrumentalisation des conflits locaux préexistants, qu'ils soient issus de la restriction sur l'accès aux ressources naturelles ou des luttes locales sur la distribution du pouvoir, permet alors aux groupes armés l'implantation de petites katibas, des cellules de combattants, et d'étendre le conflit armé au territoire burkinabè. Le climat d'insécurité croissant conjugué au retrait de l'autorité étatique dans les régions burkinabè du Sahel et de l'Est a créé en retour un vide régalien comblé par les réseaux criminels transnationaux et le banditisme sur lesquels s'appuient les groupes armés pour étendre leur influence et leur contrôle territorial. Ce rapport présentera ces enjeux en revenant dans un premier temps sur la propagation des violences au Burkina Faso, puis sur la rupture marquée entre les régions victimes de l'insécurité et le centre de l'État, avant d'ouvrir une réflexion sur la stigmatisation ethnique et le risque d'une généralisation des violences communautaires.

Following two military coups d’état in 2022, militant Islamist groups in Burkina Faso have moved to encircle Ouagadougou leaving a trail of unprecedented violence in their wake.

Army, Militia Respond with Summary Executions, Enforced Disappearances.

Il volume descrive le pratiche di dialogo e gestione dei conflitti nella regione saheliana del Burkina Faso, dove l'Union Fraternelle des Croyants, una ONG multi-confessionale, ha avviato una collaborazione proficua tra le comunità musulmane e cattoliche per promuovere lo sviluppo del territorio. E' delineato un quadro della variegata società burkinabè attraverso la sua storia, la sua composizione etnica e religiosa, un'analisi delle problematiche in atto e dei metodi di gestione del conflitto a disposizione dei cittadini. Il Burkina Faso può infatti rappresentare un esempio positivo di coabitazione pacifica tra etnie e religioni, nonostante le sue difficili condizioni climatiche ed economiche.

In a troubled region, Burkina Faso is a rare example of religious​ diversity and​ tolerance​.​ But a perceived discrepancy between a significant number of Muslims and their low level of public representation has created tensions. To safeguard Burkina's model of peaceful coexistence, the government must address this sensitive issue through careful reforms, particularly in the education system.​

For most of its modern history, Burkina Faso avoided intervening in the religious sphere. According to its constitution, Burkina Faso is a secular state that protects religious freedom, and individuals can choose and change their religion freely. While its Christian minority dominated the state system and government, nonintervention by a largely Christian administration helped preserve a delicate sociopolitical balance and avoid Muslim-Christian antagonism. As a result, the state has largely avoided imposing institutional restrictions, such as registration requirements for places of worship, state licensing of preachers, or imposing state control of religious schools or curricula. This gave religious institutions and movements widespread freedoms to operate. Part of the state's relaxed attitude toward religious regulation stemmed from the fact that until fairly recently, secular actors were the most potent threat to governmental authority. In the cities, civil society organizations and trade unions often defied state authority and overthrew governments. In rural areas, chiefs and local authorities positioned themselves as alternative power centers to the central government. The prevalence of secular opposition meant that the state paid less attention to challengers from the religious sphere.

Attacks on the Burkina Faso army headquarters and the French Embassy on 2 March 2018 were better organised, involved heavier weapons and were more sustained than anything seen so far in Burkina Faso. In this Q&A, our West Africa Program Director Rinaldo Depagne says the jihadist assault further exposes worrying weakness in the Burkinabé security forces.