A woman wanted to buy bread in the morning; it was a day like any other. Suddenly, on her way, alarmed by a commotion, she ran to the borders of the city and saw before her 3,000 Mujahideen shouting the name of the Almighty and ready to destroy her house with blood and fire. The scene is overwhelming. Three thousand wolves howled, wild with the violence of battle, their eyes filled with the fanaticism of the hunt. It seems like a scene from a Posteguillo novel. And this terrible situation would apply to a Toledo woman in 711… but also to a woman from Djibo (Burkina Faso) in 2023. Because the world has changed less than they would have us believe.
The situation of the city of Djibo and its 29,000 souls trapped in northern Burkina Faso is as follows: In February 2022, three thousand jihadists began a siege that prevented them from entering and leaving the city by land., limiting its powers to intermittent and unsafe air communications. Almost thirty thousand people were kidnapped in their city for years without the international media wanting to devote a few lines to their situation. There was little coverage of the killing of 27 Burkinabe soldiers in October 2022 while attempting to break the siege to gain access to the city, in addition to occasional reminders by local media. Otherwise, Djibo, sandwiched between the cracks of history and the Sahel, carries out its siege in stoic silence and is ignored by the world. Something similar has been happening since this summer Timbuktu (Mali).
They are the wars that don’t matter to anyone, but that kill just as much and at the same temperature at which the explosives explode. And it was in Djibo, where This is confirmed by preliminary figures from the Alliance of Sahel States (comprising Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger), up to 400 jihadists were neutralized in a series of bomb attacks on the night from Sunday to Monday. Conflagrations and roars. Shaking of the foundations. Images provided by the Burkinabe army show dozens of burned motorcycles and the scorched ground, like a hangover from hell that broke out in the early hours of the morning. Initial information suggests that the surviving jihadists fled the scene.
This forceful response by the Burkinabe security forces would have resulted from an attempted jihadist attack (which failed) with the aim of taking Djibo after the long siege. Congratulations to the Burkinabe army and the volunteers in defense of the fatherland for their outstanding performance should be the order of the day. Also, The intensive use of drones in this devastating defensive operation strengthens the Burkinabe’s trust in these “silent birds”. which replaced the partnership with France and its powerful air force for ten months. The Bayraktar TB-2s acquired from Turkey (Burkina is known to have at least three of these devices) are proving to be a cheap and effective war machine when used properly.
It is also the only official broadcaster that reported the attack the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) It shows the organization’s understanding of the various military actions of the three countries involved. Despite their ability to definitively end the jihadist threat and the lack of legitimacy of their governments, they demonstrate an interest in cooperation between the parties that could be listed as a positive aspect when assessing the AES.
The events in Djibo should serve to review the terminology that influences the situation in Burkina Faso. While Captain Ibrahim Traoré, leader of the military junta since the coup that brought him to power in 2022, calls it a “war” the Burkinabe reality, The media and international organizations continue to use the term “conflict” to refer to it..
But when 3,000 religious and armed fanatics surround a city for more than 21 months, when 400 combatants are killed in a single night, and the number of civilians killed in violence in Burkina Faso so far this year exceeds 7,000… The word conflict falls into place short. Just as those who besiege cities, take over roads, block borders, and establish caliphates with economic independence and tax systems are called “terrorists.”Instead of calling them “combatants,” an increasingly serious problem is downplayed. The meaning of terminology is completely lost in the Sahel when terms based on social psychology rather than the reality of war are used.