...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
's security services, plagued by recurrent jihadist violence, published a list of 20 "actively wanted terrorists" on Thursday, offering bonuses for their arrest or "neutralization" ranging from 150,000 to 275,000 euros.
The individuals, whose portraits have been broadcast on local media, are "actively wanted for participation or complicity in the planning or conduct of terrorist acts".
"If you provide information, such as to allow the arrest or the neutralization of one of these individuals, you will receive the amount indicated on the photo of the concerned", specifies a message from the ministry in charge of Security, published with the portraits.
At the top of the list are Sidibé Dramane alias Hamza and Diallo Moussa alias Abou Ganiou, aged 45 and 40 respectively. The Burkinabè authorities are offering 180 million CFA francs (about 275,000 euros) for the capture of each of them.
"Hamza" is close to Malian Amadou Koufa
...Imperator of the Macina Liberation Front, one of the local groups within Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Moslemin (JNIM), the regional umbrella affiliated with Al Qaeda in North Africa. MLF draws from the cattle-herding Fulani... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...
tribe extant in Mali, Niger, and Nigeria, which appeared in 2015 for the purpose of jihading against the farming tribes of Dogon and Bambara. Amadou was reported killed in a French raid, but he arose from the dead sometime around January 2019, to continue jihading as usual...
, an important leader of the Support Group for Islam and Moslems (Jnim in Arabic), the main coalition affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Sahel.
Also on the list are leaders of katiba (combat unit of jihadist groups) including Dicko Hamadoun alias Suu-ka Maldê and Bolly Oumarou alias Oumi whose heads are priced at 175 million FCFA (265,000 euros) each.
The people sought are all Burkinabè, born for the majority in the northern region, with the exception of Sita Housseini alias Lookmann, a 33-year-old Nigerian.
Burkina has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali and Niger a few years earlier and which has spread beyond their borders.
The violence over the past seven years has killed more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers, according to NGOs, and more than two million internally displaced persons. According to the government, the army controls 65% of the national territory.
Burkina has been ruled since last September by a military junta headed by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power after a coup, the second in eight months.
| The junta seems no better at clearing out the jihadis and restoring law and order than the civilians that preceded it. At least the Egyptians are getting significantly fewer suicide bombs and shoot’em-ups from their military rulers. |