Human suffering reaches crisis levels amid ruinous conditions

JIHADISTS have dynamited bridges and mounted deadly attacks against supply convoys, blockading Burkina Faso’s northern town of Djibo and leaving its people destitute.

“The situation is catastrophic in Djibo,” said Idrissa Badini, a spokesperson for a group of civil society organisations in the wider Soum province. “Hunger is at such a level that it is starting to kill children and the elderly.” Last month, 15 people died of hunger in the town, he said. But there were “probably more victims”, as other cases had likely gone unreported.

According to the UN, dozens of places in Burkina Faso face conditions similar to those in Djibo. Nearly a million people are living in besieged areas in the north and east of the country.

Burkina Faso has been struggling with a jihadist insurgency since 2015.

Over the last few years, Djibo has become a hub for the region’s internally displaced people, forced to flee violence involving groups linked to Al-qaeda and the Islamic State organisation. The town’s population has tripled to an estimated 300 000. But the blockade is now pushing some of those displaced to flee a second time, southwards to the capital Ouagadougou.

“Deprived of water, food, medicine and phone signal, many are leaving Djibo on foot, at night, in the hope of reaching areas they can still reach,” an aid worker said.

On the road between Djibo and the town of Bourzanga, residents described seeing the wreckage of vehicles hit by landmines. Several supply convoys have recently been attacked on the road. In September, 35 people died when their truck was blown up by a mine. There were children among the dead. Another attack on a convoy killed 11 soldiers.

The convoys are a lifeline. With farmers unable to tend to their fields amid the fighting, food production is almost non-existent in many parts of Burkina Faso.

Disgruntled army officers have carried out two coups in Burkina Faso this year in a show of anger at failures to roll back the insurgency. Earlier this month, Captain Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in a coup in September, went to Djibo on his first official visit.

In Arbinda, tens of thousands of people from surrounding areas have gathered, fleeing attacks.

“The regular land convoys that used to supply the population with food and subsistence products have stopped,” said Badini. “For the past two months, nothing has reached Arbinda. The population, which has used up its reserves, is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster.”

In some cases, some supplies have been able to get through to areas in need despite the attacks. At the end of last month, the army airlifted 70 tons of grain to Djibo, and trucks ferried in more than 300 tons of food to the town at the start of this month, the army general staff says. Seven mines were defused on the way.

The World Food Programme says around 3.5 million people in Burkina Faso will need emergency food aid in the coming months.