Charity MSF halts operations in north Burkina city amid security concerns

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2024-10-22T04:46:10+05:00 AFP

Medical charity MSF on Monday announced it has suspended work in the north Burkina Faso city of Djibo as Jihadist groups step up attacks.


Jihadist groups have closed in on Djibo in the last two years and carried out attacks in the city, which is near the border area between Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.


Home to tens of thousands of people who have fled their villages because of the violence, Djibo's population has boomed from 60,000 people to more than 200,000 in five years, according to the ACLED non-governmental group.


"This decision comes after recurrent incidents targeting health centres, water distribution points and even our facilities," Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym MSF) wrote on X.


Incidents imputed to armed groups have spiked this year, an MSF official told AFP.


"Conditions are deteriorating in Burkina and we are not feeling the support of local authorities," the official said.


The charity's office in July was hit by gunfire that destroyed water supply stations it had provided, according to the representative.


"We need adequate security conditions to allow our teams to continue their mission and to provide support to the communities trapped by insecurity and violence," said Moussa Ousman, who heads MSF's West and Central African programmes, cited on X.


The NGO in February 2023 halted operations country-wide after armed men killed two of its medics in the northwest of the country.


One of the world's poorest nations, Burkina Faso has been rocked by a jihadist insurgency that spilled over from neighbouring Mali in 2015.


ACLED has counted more than 26,000 people killed since the start of the conflict, including more than 6,000 this year.

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