HRW report: Burkina Faso denounces ‘unacceptable interference’ on the part of the European Union

Ouagadougou: The government criticized the European Union for interfering in a 'manifest and unacceptable way in the internal affairs of Burkinabè', after its press release which takes up the charges of massacres of civilians brought by the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) against the Fighting Forces. The Burkinabe government expressed through diplomatic channels its total disapproval after the press release of April 29, 2024 in which the European Union reacted to the HRW report on massacres of civilians allegedly committed by Burkinabe fighting forces. According to our sources, the Burkinabè executive expressed its astonishment that the Delegation of the European Union, like certain international actors, deliberately chose to rely on an individualist pamphlet lacking credibility, a methodology serious investigation and reliable data. For Ouagadougou, the Human Right Watch report, orchestrated through a telephone survey from thousands of kilometers from the villages of Nodin and Soro, is very light. As a resu lt, the Burkinabe government regrets that the European Union, usually attached to scientific rigor and serious procedures, reacts on the basis of hasty conclusions. Furthermore, Ouagadougou rejected the order given by the European Union to the Burkinabè authorities to launch an independent and impartial investigation in order to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of these massacres. For the executive, the European Union is 'obviously and unacceptablely interfering in the internal affairs of Burkinabè' given that investigations are already underway. In all cases, the Burkinabè government has reaffirmed the professionalism and self-sacrifice of the Fighting Forces in their missions of territorial reconquest in the face of hordes of terrorists. Source: Burkina Information Agency