Burkina Faso imposing curfew to take on terrorist groups

Ahmed Adel

Burkina Faso seeks to control the security situation in its northern territories and combat terrorist elements in the Sahel region as a whole.

Curfew

The authorities in Burkina Faso announced on March 5 the imposition of a curfew in the northern regions to fight terrorist groups in that region, especially ISIS and al-Qaeda.

As part of the fight against terrorism, a curfew was imposed from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. throughout the territory from Friday, March 3 to Friday, March 31, according to the governor of the northern region.

“During this period, the movement of people, four-wheeled and two-wheeled vehicles, tricycles and bicycles is strictly prohibited,” the governor said in a statement.

He called on residents to strictly adhere to this decision and stay at home at the indicated times and dates.

Authorities in this African country want to aid the armed forces in this area which is located on the shared border with Mali.

According to a statement from local authorities in Koulpelogo province, two more curfews were imposed, in the east-centre of the country on the border with Ghana and Togo, until the end of March 2023, and in the north-central province of Bam province which imposed a curfew from March 5 to March 20.

Military coup

In October 2022, Burkina Faso witnessed the second military coup in less than eight months.

Search for the chaos

African affairs specialist, Amira Abdel Haleem, said the current escalation of the pace of events in a number of African countries is somehow related to the state of general chaos caused by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

“The curfew decision is mainly aimed at facilitating the movement of the government’s armed forces in Burkina Faso, and then directing strong military strikes against terrorist elements that will not abide by that decision once and for all,” Abdel Haleem told The Reference.

She added that the situation in Burkina Faso remains ambiguous and tense, in the light of the tense political events that the country has been experiencing since the coup of 2022.

Abdel Haleem pointed out that Burkina Faso is witnessing, specifically in the northern and eastern states, a significant increase in terrorist operations since 2015, launched by movements affiliated to al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Necessary step

For his part, international terrorism expert, Col. Hatem Saber, described the curfew decision as an important step that may help the government in Burkina Faso to counter terrorist attacks.

“The decision would allow the government to target terrorist elements strongly, in an attempt to stop the expansion of the armed movements spread in the Sahel region of Africa as a whole,” Col. Saber told The Reference.