Indiscriminate violence in Burkina Faso

According to media reports, several civilians have become victims of attacks in Seytenga in Burkina Faso, close to the border with Niger. Apparently, armed militiamen had opened fire indiscriminately, killing anyone who happened to be in their line of fire. Many more were injured, and hundreds are on the run. According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), an Islamist background is to be assumed. Armed Islamist groups are very active in the neighboring states of Mali and Niger – and they are increasingly focusing on Burkina Faso as well: "Radical Islamist ideologies are quite popular in marginalized regions in which parts of the population have no perspective. This is the case in several states of the Sahel," explained Nadja Grossenbacher, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. "For militia groups, it is easy to recruit members where people live in a precarious situation. Conversely, this means that radical Islamism and violence are not very well received where living conditions are improving and were the people see perspectives for themselves." Thus, possible solution approaches should focus on tangible improvements in the living conditions of the people. For example, northern Mali was marginalized for much too long.