Siege of Madjoari

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been embroiled in an insurgency by the Mali-based Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, the Niger-based Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and the homegrown Burkinabe Ansarul Islam. These insurgent groups began besieging government-controlled towns starting with Arbinda in 2019, and by early 2022 dozens of towns, including provincial capitals, were under siege by JNIM and Ansarul Islam. Sieges became the modus operandi of these groups beginning in 2022, and jihadists often attacked civilians fleeing the areas while also preventing supplies and food from going in and out. When the siege of Madjoari began in February 2021, many villages in Madjoari Department were already under JNIM control. == Siege ==

Civilian displacement and beginning (February 2021 - May 2022) Prior to the siege, Madjoari had a population of between 14,000 and 15,000. On June 29, 2021, the jihadists issued an ultimatum to the chief of Madjoari that if the town's population did not flee, the jihadists would destroy the town and everyone in it. In the ultimatum, the jihadists threatened to blow up the Singou bridge that connects the town to Kompienga, the provincial capital of Kompienga Province where Madjoari is located. Two other soldiers were injured in the explosion. Five days later on May 19, they led an assault on the Burkinabe military base in Madjoari, which was staffed by Burkinabe forces and VDP militiamen. The base was shelled first, and then the assault began with heavy fighting. Following the battle at the military base, around 900 civilians remained in Madjoari. The refugees were fleeing towards Nadiagou. All of the victims were men, mostly young men, and they were taken into the bushes and shot by the jihadists. Only women, children, and elderly were spared, although there were only four in the group to begin with. A survivor of the siege and massacre stated that around fifty more civilians are missing. Another survivor of the siege added that the massacre was retaliation for the jihadist's failure to capture all of Madjoari during their assault on the base. The jihadists had had meeting in villages in the department, seeking to enact revenge for the deaths of seventy of their comrades killed during the battle. == References ==