Burkina Faso authorities will take measures to restore stability in northern villages plagued by attacks, a government official said on Wednesday.
“The president and the prime minister have given instructions that appropriate measures be taken so as to enable the stabilization of the populations in their home communities,” said Simeon Sawadogo, minister of territorial administration, following a council of ministers here.
He said that the displaced would be reintegrated into their home localities at the end of the rainy season, so that they could keep the fields and cattle they have.
On September 28-29, about 20 people were killed in the villages of Zimtenga and Bourzanga municipalities, north of the West African nation, causing a wave of panic that led to a massive movement of people to the city of Kongoussi, about 120 km north of the capital, for refuge.
Thousands of people demonstrated on Wednesday in Kongoussi to “voice their displeasure following the worsening of security situation in many villages in central north of the country,” a local representative told Xinhua in a phone call.
“It is a really deplorable situation,” said Sawadogo. “We urge the populations to keep calm and we tell them there is still hope to ensure their return to home localities.”
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has suffered a series of attacks that caused over 500 deaths and displaced over 280,000 people.
