Regional NGO alliance the People's Coalition for the Sahel is demanding the immediate return alive of human rights defender Daouda Diallo, secretary general of Burkina Faso's Collective Against Impunity & Stigmatization of Communities (CISC). The CISC announced Dec. 3 that shortly after Diallo left the passport office in Ouagadougou that afternoon, he was abducted by at least four unidentified men in civilian clothes. Diallo's CISC has been riasing the alarm about ethnically targeted killings in Burkina Faso under the military regimes that have been in power since a January 2022 coup.

The Patriotic Movement for Safeguard & Restoration, the currently ruling military junta, has been carrying out a massive "requisition" of citizens. Those on the "requisition" list are forcibly mobilized to take part in government security operations, pursuant to an April mobilization decree. Those on the list have included journalists and opposition figures. In September, Arouna Louré, a former member of the transitional legislative assembly, was taken by authorities. His current whereabouts remain unknown.

Abuses have also been carried out by paramilitary "self-defense" groups, known as Koglweogo, formed in response to an armed insurgency linked to the so-called Islamic State and other jihadist networks. Members of the Fulani ethnic group are being targeted by the Koglweogo, according to the CISC. The CISC statement called for Meta (Facebook) and X (Twitter) to reinforce their vigilance against hate speech and block violent discourse that contributes to polarization in Burkina Faso and the Sahel.

From Jurist, Dec. 4. Used with permission.