Burkina Faso becomes latest Sahel country to open door to talks with jihadists

The once safe African nation of Burkina Faso, is suffering from increasing instability as a result of attacks from jihadist groups

Credit: Simon Townsley 

Burkina Faso’s government said on Thursday it could negotiate with jihadists in a bid to end a growing insurgency which has engulfed the Sahel, a shift of strategy which follows similar announcements in Mali.

"All great wars have ended around a table. If we want to end the security crisis, we will need to find paths and ways to talk with those responsible for terrorist attacks so that we are in peace," Burkina Faso’s prime minister Christophe Dabire said in parliament.

His statement is a first in Burkina Faso, where President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré had until now rejected the talks.

Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda took over large swathes of Mali’s north in 2012, before being pushed back by French and African armies.

Since then, however, several jihadist groups have taken over large parts of Mali and its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, plunging the Sahel into an endless cycle of militant attacks, civilian deaths and displacing millions.

Attacks by militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State in Burkina Faso have multiplied since 2018, killing thousands and displacing more than one million people.

Faced with years of spiraling violence despite a tough military response, several candidates in Burkina Faso’s presidential election in November had called for negotiations with armed groups.

More than 6,600 civilians have been killed in the three countries since October 2019, making 2020 the deadliest year for civilians in the region, according to the UN. This is despite the presence of 5,000 French troops and 13,000 peacekeepers in Mali and military support from Britain, the European Union and the United States across the region.

In Mali, former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said last year his government would open talks with armed groups. After he was ousted in a coup, the transitional government confirmed that position.

Foreign allies such as France have regularly opposed negotiations with jihadist groups. But Paris appeared to soften its stance in December when it said talks could be possible with certain local jihadist groups, but not with the leadership of al-Qaeda and Islamic State.