Major terror attack in Burkina Faso leaves dozens dead.

 

A soldier in Burkina Faso. BBC/AFP.

A major terror attack in Burkina Faso has left at least 44 people dead in two locations. BBC. No group has taken credit for the attack but militants linked to both ISIS and al-Qaeda are active in the region. The attacks were in retaliation of a lynching of two jihadists who had been caught trying to steal cattle. Burkina Faso has had an Islamic insurgency since 2013 and the failure to deal with the insurgency has led to multiple coups against the government. The current leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, promised to take back territory held by the Jihadists and hold democratic elections in 2024. He also kicked French troops out of the country and may invite Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to fight the Jihadis. 

My Comment:

Burkina Faso probably isn't on anyone's radar but this was a fairly large terror attack that left a lot of people dead. Both ISIS and al-Qaeda are very active in Africa and remain one of the few regions where they have any power at all. At this point it's mostly a regional problem but one that could quickly grow out of control. 

It's absurd that this happened due to cattle rustling, which is apparently still a thing in Africa. I understand the inclination to just lynch people that are trying to steal your livelihood but doing so in this case was probably a mistake. Doing so provoked a major response from the terror groups and you have to wonder why the people that killed the cattle rustlers didn't expect blowback from it. Perhaps they were just tired of the Jihadis and just wanted some petty revenge. Either way, it didn't work out well for them. 

It does appear that Burkina Faso is becoming rather unstable. They have a long history of major terror attacks and they keep having coups because the leadership seems unable to do anything about it. Kicking out the French probably didn't help things as, for all their faults, the French military is actually pretty good. I am assuming it is an anti-colonialism thing so I guess I can understand where they are coming from but it's not like Burkina Faso is able to deal with the Jihadi problem themselves. 

Sending in the Wagner Group might actually help things. They have plenty of experience fighting insurgencies in Africa and they are actually fairly competent fighters, excluding the prison cannon fodder that was used in Ukraine. They would be trading one colonial power for another one but at least the Russians won't fight with one hand behind their back. 

Still, Africa is another tinderbox to keep an eye on. A major collapse by the Burkina Faso government, which does not look stable right now, could lead to a major Jihadist victory in Africa. They could then use the area as a tax base and operational center to launch terror attacks inside and outside of the region. That seems fairly unlikely but so did the rise of ISIS last decade...