The UN rights chief has called on transitional authorities in jihadist-ravaged Burkina Faso to quickly and transparently investigate the killing of 28 people whose bodies were found last weekend.
Volker Turk welcomed that authorities said they would investigate after the body was found in the north-west of the country.
“I call on them to be prompt, thorough, impartial and transparent and to hold all those responsible regardless of position or rank,” he said.
“I have sent a letter to the Foreign Minister outlining this exact message,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“The victims and their loved ones are owed no less.”
The UN rights office said local sources blamed the killing on a volunteer militia, the Volontaires pour la Defense de la Patrie (VDP), created to support the army’s fight against jihadists.
According to the statement, he said members of the VDP had descended on the city, killing 28 people, “in retaliation for an earlier attack on a military base the previous night” by suspected members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nasr. al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).
Burkina Faso, a landlocked West African country, is one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world.
Since 2015, it has been battling an insurgency led by jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group that has killed tens of thousands and displaced around two million people.
Attacks targeting security forces and civilians have increased in recent months, particularly in the northern and eastern regions bordering jihadist-ravaged Mali and Niger.
The VDP, which was established in December 2019, consists of civilian volunteers who are given two weeks of military training and then work alongside the army, usually performing surveillance, information gathering or escort duties.
Commentators have long worried that untrained volunteers are easy targets for jihadists – and could risk ethnic friction without proper controls.
The UN rights chief had previously “raised direct concerns with the authorities about the human rights risks associated with the recruitment, arming and deployment of additional forces in Burkina Faso,” he said Saturday.
It stressed “the urgent need to strengthen inspection procedures, pre-deployment training on human rights and international humanitarian law.”
“Effective supervision by security and defense forces” is also needed “to ensure inclusion and transparency in recruitment,” he said.