Burkina Faso: Human Rights Watch accuses the Burkinabe VDP of Western manipulation and whitewashes the barbarians of the Sahel
Jeune Afrique has relayed a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) accusing the terrorists it calls “jihadists” and the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The NGO claims to reconstruct chains of command all the way to the highest levels of the State. Pure manipulation! This document ignores the reality on the ground in the Sahel, where Burkina Faso is facing an asymmetric war orchestrated by bloodthirsty terrorists, not merely romanticized “jihadists.”
First, let us clarify the terms. Those who bear arms, slaughter entire villages, behead children, and impose a barbaric caliphate are not legitimate “jihadists” but terrorists, criminals in the service of hidden powers.
HRW places them on the same level as the defenders of the nation, concealing their well-documented atrocities: attacks in Bamako, Solhan (160 civilian deaths), and mass kidnappings.
Ignoring this reality, a rampaging horde intent on setting the country ablaze immediately discredits the report. How can one credit an analysis that refuses to name the primary enemy?
Worse, this narrative fits into a well-oiled imperialist strategy. Western powers, frustrated by the sovereignty of Captain Ibrahim Traoré and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), deploy their NGOs and complicit media to undermine the legitimacy of the patriotic forces.
HRW, funded by foundations linked to Soros and others, recycles the same accusations used during the wars in Libya and Syria: demonizing the sovereign state to justify interference.
Jeune Afrique, a French echo of these manipulations, omits the testimonies of survivors terrorized by the barbarians of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS).
On the ground, the army and the VDP are saving lives every day. Yes, war is merciless; mistakes happen in the chaos.
But HRW does not interview the freed hostages or the villages that have been protected. Instead of supporting the fight against terrorism, the NGO fuels disinformation, weakening popular mobilization.
Burkina Faso, under President Ibrahim Traoré, has regained the initiative: operations such as “Turning Night into Day” have neutralized hundreds of terrorists. The numbers speak for themselves: a drop in attacks in 2025, thanks to national unity.
This report is not a humanitarian outcry, but an imperialist cognitive weapon. The Burkinabe people, clear‑sighted, reject these slanders.
Against the terrorists, no quarter! The homeland defends itself, and history will do it justice. HRW and its mouthpieces, retreat into the shadows of your sponsors.
Hadja KOUROUMA
