Three Ghanaians have informed the BBC of their involvement within the combating between Islamist insurgents and the army in neighbouring Burkina Faso, describing scenes of generally indiscriminate violence and bloody battles.
“We’re all the time with the useless. In some battles, I’ve seen 40, 50 or 100 useless individuals,” one of many males informed the BBC.
The three, all of their late thirties or early forties, stated they’d fought in Burkina Faso a number of instances since 2018. They crossed the porous 550km-long (340-mile) border between the 2 international locations, with out being detected by the safety forces.
They denied being primarily motivated by faith or being skilled by the jihadists, saying they went to battle to defend civilian communities with whom they’d robust household and ethnic ties.
“My elder brother, his spouse and kids have been all killed by the [Burkinabe] military. It pains me loads. The army got here to their neighborhood within the forest. They killed all of them, a complete family, together with 29 individuals,” one of many males stated.
However one other of the lads did articulate spiritual zeal, saying: “In the event you die whereas combating with the jihadists, then you might be driving to jannah (an Islamic phrase for paradise), on the trail of the righteous.”
Challenged over whether or not they had taken half in civilian assaults, the lads have been divided.
One denied doing so, however one other conceded that he did.
“Some native individuals help the army in attacking us, that is why we’ve to kill them too,” he stated.
“You already know… I am not pleased to battle like this. The variety of individuals we kill, the individuals the army kill, it’s totally dangerous. However this battle has entered our blood,” he added.
All three spoke on situation of anonymity.
The BBC was unable to verify their claims however they confirmed us footage of weapons, described the situation of current conflicts and named jihadist commanders in Burkina Faso.
The BBC was put in contact with the lads by means of contacts at cattle markets in northern Ghana, the place jihadist teams are alleged to be recruiting fighters.
Individuals typically stroll between Ghana and Burkina Faso [AFP]
In 2022, a France-based NGO, Promediation, stated its analysis confirmed that the jihadists had recruited between 200 and 300 younger Ghanaians.
And the Netherlands Institute of Worldwide Relations think-tank, in a report released last July, stated the jihadists had “minimal success” recruiting in Ghana.
Nonetheless, the lads supplied a unique perspective, telling the BBC, in claims that would not be verified, that individuals from “all components of Ghana” and from “many” ethnic teams have been becoming a member of the insurgency in Burkina Faso.
“Some are combating for jihad. Some are doing it for enterprise,” one among them stated.
The monetary incentive comes within the type of the plentiful livestock that the jihadists steal from communities pushed out of their villages.
“Once we assault a neighborhood, we take their animals: generally 50, generally 100,” the BBC was informed by one of many males.
The cattle are allegedly delivered to northern Ghana, and bought at markets.
The trafficking throughout the border was confirmed to the BBC by cattle sellers.
It’s thought to have turn into a serious revenue stream for teams like Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate that’s the most energetic jihadist group in Burkina Faso. It additionally operates in Niger and Mali.
The West African area was described by the UN final 12 months because the epicentre of worldwide jihadist violence.
Assist companies say that over the last decade some two-million people have been displaced by the insurgency in Burkina Faso and tens of 1000’s killed.
Ninpoa Nasuri is without doubt one of the 1000’s who’ve fled to Ghana to flee the violence.
She informed the BBC her husband was killed in entrance of her in 2024 throughout a raid on their village in jap Burkina Faso by fighters from JNIM.
“They grabbed the lads, they usually beat them to demise. My husband was a farmer. He had nothing to do with the federal government militia or the battle,” she informed the BBC.
Different refugees described related acts of violence by the Burkinabe army.
Saafiya Karim fled to Ghana after her village was raided [BBC]
“A number of the individuals they have been killing have been aged 80, aged 90. These individuals cannot maintain a gun, cannot battle with anyone. They killed them for no purpose,” Saafiya Karim stated.
Ghana has thus far remained largely untouched by the insurgency, though some assaults have taken place in neighbouring Togo and Ivory Coast.
In a current assertion to Ghanaian journalist Mohammed Eliasu Tanko, a person calling himself a consultant of JNIM stated the group had little interest in launching assaults in Ghana.
“They (JNIM fighters) usually are not allowed to take any motion towards Ghana. It is a clear and sure assertion. JNIM don’t search conflict towards Ghana,” the person, often known as Ansari, stated within the assertion, which the BBC has seen.
Nonetheless an upsurge in communal violence in a single a part of northern Ghana has raised issues that the jihadists try to take advantage of the battle to their benefit.
The city of Bawku is embroiled in a decades-long battle between totally different ethnic teams for management of the native chieftaincy. Greater than 100 persons are thought to have been killed in clashes since combating intensified in final October.
“The night in Bawku is all the time [one of] gunshots and fierce exchanges. Individuals use AK47s, M16s, every kind of automated rifles,” a resident informed the BBC.
Refugees from Burkina Faso have come to hunt asylum in Bawku (file photograph) [AFP]
JNIM smugglers are accused of promoting weapons to each side.
“We perceive they’re supplying weapons that they’ve taken from the army in Burkina Faso. They do that by counting on the vans that journey as much as Niger and again carrying onions. They disguise the weapons inside these vans,” Tanko informed the BBC.
“One intelligence officer confirmed to me this was the brand new method they’re bringing firearms in. And the Ghanaian safety are ill-equipped to have the ability to detect these autos coming by means of, placing Ghana in a really important scenario,” he added.
Ghana’s Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah didn’t reply to a BBC request for remark.
President John Mahama, who took workplace in January after successful December’s presidential election, visited Bawku final month in an effort to advertise peace between the rival teams. Nonetheless, gunfights proceed to be reported.
Ghana’s governing get together spokesman Sammy Gyamfi informed the BBC that ending the violence in Bawku was the federal government’s “primary precedence”.
“The violence is already spreading and if care will not be taken it is probably that insurgents from the broader area can reap the benefits of this battle,” he stated.
The three males the BBC spoke to stated they didn’t rule out the potential of the insurgency spreading.
“This factor can go to anyplace, or to any nation. It did not exist in Togo however now the assaults are taking place there. If they will go to Togo, they will get to Ghana. This factor is robust, it is highly effective,” one among them stated.
However one other of the lads took a cynical perspective, saying the insurgents in Burkina Faso have been now not waging an “Islamic battle”.
“They only kill the individuals, and steal their livestock. What is occurring will not be jihad and so I don’t prefer it,” he stated.
You can listen to Ed Butler’s report on the BBC World Service’s Assignment programme.
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[Getty Images/BBC]
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