The government accuses HRW of wanting to undermine the image of Burkina Faso

Ouagadougou: The Burkinabè government denounced on Saturday the desire of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) to question the professionalism of the army and to undermine the image of the country, through unfounded accusations. Burkina Faso Information Agency Read the press release in full The Government of Burkina Faso became aware, on April 25, 2024, with amazement of a fictitious report from the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Human_Rights_Watch (HRW) published on its web page and relayed by certain international media. In the said report, HRW alleges that the Burkinabè army deliberately massacred 223 civilians including more than fifty children in the villages of Nodin and Soro on February 24, 2024. In its attempt to lend credence to its peremptory accusations, Human Rights Watch claims to have "conducted telephone interviews with 23 people, including 14 witnesses to the killings, three local civil society activists and three members of international organizations." HRW adds that there would be no d esire on the part of the authorities to shed light on these killings like others committed in Karma, Nouna and Zaongo. The Government of Burkina Faso strongly rejects and condemns such unfounded accusations. The media campaign orchestrated around these accusations clearly demonstrates the unacknowledged intention of these authors, which is to discredit our fighting forces engaged on the field of honor, at the risk of their lives, in securing the territory as well as protecting populations and their property against terrorist attacks. The killings of Nodin and Soro gave rise to the opening of a judicial investigation, as evidenced by the press release from the Prosecutor of Faso at the Ouahigouya High Court, dated March 1, 2024. HRW is however informed of the opening of this investigation and the continuation of the investigations. If the real intention of the NGO was the search for truth and the manifestation of the truth, it should have contributed to this by directing its "witnesses" whom it declares to have heard "TELEPHONICALLY" as well as its activists and others Organizations cited, towards judicial investigators. The Government is surprised that while this investigation is underway to elucidate the facts and identify their perpetrators, HRW was able, through overflowing imagination, to identify "the culprits" and pronounce its verdict which shocks all informed intelligence, except that of the media and imperialist agencies pursuing the same evil design as HRW. By instead opting to stay thousands of kilometers from the places where the events took place to pass a concise judgment through the press, HRW reveals its real intention which is to question the professionalism of our valiant fighting forces and thus undermining the image of Burkina Faso. The Government reminds the good governance of HRW that the Defense and Security Forces who, at the risk of their lives, work daily to bring relief and assistance to civilian populations prey to terrorist attacks in areas with security challenges, by supplying basic necessities, cannot at the same time be perpetrators of despicable acts such as those alleged against these same populations. Moreover, the Government recalls that all allegations of human rights violations and abuses reported in the context of the fight against terrorism are systematically the subject of investigations, the progress of which is monitored by the consultation framework, monitoring and early warning of cases of alleged violation and abuse of Human Rights created between the Government of Burkina Faso and the Country Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. As such, the legal proceedings opened in the context of the files in particular of Nouna, Karma, Zaongo, Soro and Nodin are continuing their course, in compliance with the rules of procedure, in the sole interest of the good administration of the justice with the guarantees of fair justice. HRW could therefore suffer indefinitely from the fact that the justice system in Burkina Faso does not function according to its own agenda so that in two months such complex facts in a difficult security context have not given rise to an expeditious judgment. The Government urges the fighting forces (FDS and VDP) not to let themselves be distracted by such stories but to continue to carry out their mission of fully securing the national territory with professionalism and self-sacrifice. The Government calls on the Burkinabè people to remain calm, vigilant, determined and mobilized alongside the National Armed Forces, the Internal Security Forces and the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland, worthily engaged in a dynamic of intensifying operations to secure the territory. The Government, aware of the issues linked to the fight against impunity in the consolidation and preservation of peace and social cohesion, remains fundamentally attached to the ideal of justice and respect for its international commitments in terms of human rights. without having to learn a lesson from HRW. The Government invites all national and international organizations which work alongside it in the promotion and protection of Human Rights to distance themselves from any enterprise likely to expose them to the rigor of criminal law and urges them to instead register their cooperation in a spirit of sincerity and mutual trust. » Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo, Source: Burkina Information Agency