The report on the latest terrorist attack, which cost Damiba his position as president of the transition, has been revised upwards. On Wednesday, October 5, the Burkinabe army issued a new report on the deadly ambush on September 26 against a supply convoy headed for the town of Djibo in the Burkinabe Sahel. According to the latest data, 37 people died, including 27 Burkinabe soldiers.
“The combing and research operations carried out have resulted in the following report: 10 civilians killed, 27 soldiers killed, 29 wounded including 21 soldiers, 07 civilians and 01 Volunteer for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP), 03 people still missing and significant material damage,” the General Staff of the Burkinabe Armed Forces announced in a statement.
If two days after the attack, the first provisional report stated that 11 soldiers were killed and about fifty civilians were missing, the one published yesterday, Tuesday, was 27 soldiers killed. The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, after paying tribute to the memory of the deceased, wished the injured a speedy recovery. He then “reiterated the commitment of the national armed forces to continue the fight to reconquer the areas occupied by terrorist groups.
As a reminder, on September 26, a convoy of more than 200 trucks carrying food supplies under military escort to the town of Djibo in the Soum province of Burkina Faso’s Sahel region was the target of a deadly attack in the town of Gaskindé. Since then, the whole country has been plunged into an unprecedented turmoil. In the ranks of the military, there is discontent. This attack highlighted the inability of the Burkinabe army to deal with the armed terrorist groups that have been operating in the country for seven years.
Djibo on the verge of famine
Indeed, the town of Djibo, in the northeast of Burkina Faso in the Sahel region, 208 kilometers from Ouagadougou, is under jihadist blockade. Its isolation aggravates the food insecurity of the population and, as a result, causes deaths due to famine, especially among children. According to the Burkinabe civil society, eight children died of hunger on Monday in this city. The day after the announcement (Tuesday), Burkinabe citizens launched the hashtag # Aerial Bridge For Djibo, #ActForDjibo on twitter, to mobilize food products for the supply of the city. According to our information, more than 70 tons of food and other products have already been transported by the army to the town of Djibo on Tuesday.
This latest attack is the last straw for the Burkinabe army. Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo, who was in charge of Burkina Faso at the time of the attack on the humanitarian convoy, after overthrowing President Rock Kaboré last January, was also the victim of a military coup last Friday led by Captain Ibrahim Traore. The latter, for the time being, leads the country of Men of Integrity by hearing the appointment of a civilian or military president.
