Heavy gunfire heard amid Burkina Faso mutiny

What security issues does Burkina Faso have to deal with?

The military junta that took control of Burkina Faso in January claimed it would deal with the threat posed by Islamist terrorists, but the violence hasn’t subsided. There have been at least two fatal attacks this month:

On Monday, an army-escorted supply convoy headed to the northern town of Djibo was the target of an alleged insurgent ambush, which claimed the lives of 11 soldiers.
On September 5, a second convoy struck an improvised explosive device on a major road that also led to the country’s north, resulting in at least 35 civilian deaths and 37 injuries.

In the country’s north, jihadists have even seized territory and barricaded neighbourhoods.

In the Sahel, organisations affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are active.

The Sahel is a section of semi-arid territory that runs the length of the continent from east to west beneath the Sahara Desert. It encompasses a portion of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Niger.

The following graph displays the level of violence from September 2021 to June of this year: