Burkina Faso: misery and terrorism

I must admit it's going to be an exciting day and whatever happens, it will be interesting. Well, right now we are in Ivory Coast, more precisely in the north of Ivory Coast. If we continue on this road, in fifteen or twenty minutes we will reach the border with Burkina Faso. We are going to enter Burkina Faso, a country where political instability reigns, ethnic conflicts, humanitarian crises, that make this territory practically one of the poorest countries and one of the most dangerous countries in the whole world. It is also probably the country most affected in the world by terrorism and its violence, resulting in thousands of deaths a year. Not many people set out to cross this border. Among the few who attempt it, there are also some many who do not succeed. This border is often kept closed because of the conflicts in the country, there are many altercations. It also depends on the situations inside, like the attacks.... Here, practically every day, every week, there are terrorist attacks, it's normal now. I repeat thousands of people are killed every year by these terrorist attacks by different groups. This is what we are going to investigate. What is the situation regarding famines, humanitarian crises, and the different terrorist groups operating and their motives to do it The ways they attack the population and what are their main objectives. This dangerous country was also one of my goals that I wanted to document and be able to show you for years and here we are. That's why I'm also excited to enter. In fact, we are very close to the border with Burkina Faso. So here we are approaching the Sahel, the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. That's why the situation starts to change. The ecosystem in Ivory Coast, we have been documenting for many days tribal rituals, dances with masks Ceremonies of all kinds in an almost jungle-like setting. It has been a few beautiful days of joy, dances, tribal rituals, and culture. Here we are entering a much more desert-like climate. Being a border, we are surrounded by cargo trucks. And well, what I say, this border is complicated. So we're going to try to cross it, but we have to keep the cameras in the backpack. Let's see if we can record a bit with the phones. And in Burkina, we continue. Let's see how this day unfolds. We are now already in Burkina, inside Burkina Faso. The border has been quite strange,because crossing was very easy. They didn't check us at all, nothing. I only have to show them a clothes bag and that's it They didn't even check our passports at all. So well, we are already in the villages. We have traveled lots of miles on the road. We are replenishing energy with some chicken and couscous. They didn't check our visa, nor do we have the passport stamp. They didn't check anything. And that's a problem for leaving the country. So, before starting to document everything, we need to find in the next city, which is Banfora, the police station and get that stamp. Like, I don't know strange border, almost too easy to cross. So let's replenish energy and continue, but for the moment we are inside. Well, from Banfora, the first city after the Burkina Faso border, I would like to talk a bit about the history of this country, at least the most recent history, to understand a bit more about the causes and reasons for this situation that we can find ourselves in nowadays To have a context of everything that has happened in these lands. Like every French colony, it became independent in nineteen sixty. It was just that during that particular time, the country was known as Upper Volta. Between the sixties and the nineties, specifically nineteen ninety, there was a series of coups, governments were overthrown, and presidents were assassinated, among which I must highlight one specific name: Tomás Sancara, known as the president of the poor people. His brief government took place only between nineteen eighty-three and nineteen eighty-seven. In this short period of time in which he governed, he started an ambitious education project in which the literacy rate of the population went from thirteen percent to seventy-three percent. in just four years. We are talking about the construction of schools, railways, roads, and the redistribution of land to farmers. He banned forced marriages and also prohibited female genital mutilation. In fact, for the very first time in the country, women received protection and recognition in society. Even female figures are incorporated into governmental circles. Again, repeating history, he was betrayed, overthrown and assassinated in nineteen eighty-seven. But it was also during his mandate that an important event took place. In nineteen hundred and eighty-four, the name Upper Volta became Burkina Faso, the current name of the territory. Burkina Faso signifies the land of men who are full of integrity. Between the nineties and the two-thousands, there was a series of massive elections, but they were also very controversial and disputed. which ended in two thousand fourteen with another coup. and again the same thing, a phase begins again that lasts until today's times. With more coups, violence, and overthrown governments. The political instability here is extreme. on the twenty-fourth of January two thousand and twenty-two another coup was staged, a military coup take the power and dissolved the government, the Parliament, and the Constitution A few months later, on September thirtieth, another coup occurred. Ibrahim Traoré, who indeed is the nterim president, the current leader, became the head of state. And this is the current political situation we have today. Pure instability, conflicts among ethnic groups that are established here and humanitarian crises, as mentioned before, which cause a perfect breeding ground for the resurgence of these terrorist groups that are devastating the local population. You won't believe what has just happened right now, at this very moment. We are leaving the police station. They have called the chief of the border patrol. and he said no, no, that all the strange things that happened, that they didn't check our vis and they didn't stamp our passports, it's because they had completely forgotten. They took our photo and did the fingerprint check, but they completely forgot to ask us about the visa. So we have to go back to the border. We are heading back to the border. These things happen in these countries. Burkina is a special journey. No matter how you look at it It's important to stay aware of this, the mobile phone, its a way to know what's happening around you, everywhere and at every moment. Terrorism is an invisible danger that can arise in any place, at any given time, unexpectedly. While it's true, the most affected areas are the north and the east, and we are now in the south and the west, We canceled the route we had prepared for today because there are some terrorist commands in the Gagua area, which is where we were heading. The day is completely ruined. The good part, another significant topic always in places like this, the passport. And take a look at what I have here. We already have the exit stamp from the Ivory Coast and the entry into Burkina So, what is happening? Well, we know that there are, we were told just this morning, that there are terrorist groups in those areas that we wanted to visit and document. The terrorists groups move almost like nomads, setting up camps on the roads, and their modus operandi is screw the government and the population. They destroy everything. Already in two thousand twenty-two, Burkina was the country in the world with the highest number of deaths caused by terrorism. Already in two thousand and twenty-two, it has been getting worse. There were even more in two thousand twenty-three. I say they count in thousands each year. In two thousand and eighteen, there were only a few thousand people displaced by terrorism. In two thousand twenty-two, there were around two million and now there must be more than three million. The situation is catastrophic. Burkina is in all these negative indices above other dangerous countries like Niger, Nigeria, Mali, like Somalia... This is, as of today, one of the foremost hubs of terrorism globally, if not the top one. Right now, we are in the month of March of two thousand and twenty-four Just this past February twenty-fifth, less than a month ago, in merely one weekend, on that very day of February twenty-fifth, there were three terrorist attacks that caused over two hundred deaths. Here, a terrorist attack might not take just one life, but one hundred fifty. They attack schools, they attack churches, they attack mosques, and they destroy roads and highways. In fact, after these terrorist attacks on February twenty-fifth, all the schools and colleges across the country had to be closed. I don't know if right now, at the moment, they remain closed. All the schools across the nation These attacks are mostly carried out by two terrorist groups. The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, which their acronym is GSIM, are the commands or the delegation of Al-Qaeda in these regions, and the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara. The delegation of the ISIS, of the Daesh We must take into account that the government of Burkina Faso controls barely fifty percent of the territory. In the government-controlled territory many terrorist attacks occur frequently. In the areas that are controlled by the terrorists, there are actually very few attacks carried out by the government. This means that the initiative is still being taken by the terrorists. It is also worth remembering a tragic event that occurred in the year two thousand twenty-two. Two Spanish journalists, famous, known by many of you surely, their names are David Berriáin and Roberto Freire, and they were murdered by the GAIM right in those eastern regions of the country, which are controlled by the terrorists. They encountered one of the camps, gunfire broke out and they were executed. Right now, nowadays, dozens of cities throughout Burkina Faso have been or are being controlled, attacked, and besieged by these terrorist commandos. There is no road, just a track, right, it's a short path that... they have told me that about now. Alright, alright, okay. So there is a path that is impossible to cross and maybe others that are passable. Well, the important part of that is that we can reach Uagadugú to take that plane. But well, we'll... we'll see what can we do. If any area is dangerous, we'll change our plans and go somewhere else. Well, I'll say it now. If in this report we can't show much of this territory, I'm sorry. I would love to document other kinds of things, other kinds of places, but the areas where we can move here are very limited. That area was supposed to be safe, but now we can't go. We'll see what we can do. Whatever we manage to do, you'll see. That's how it will be here. Also, yesterday the timing chain of the car got screwed up, so it's in the workshop right now. We don't have time for misfortunes. But well, here we go. During our stay in Burkina, we are also going to try to study different villages, different ethnic groups. The ethnic diversity of this country, like the Ivory Coast, is very rich. Here there are more than sixty ethnic groups, and natural areas too. We are on our way to a waterfall that the locals in Banfora recommended us And what we have here are mango trees Both Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso countries, at least in this area, are full of mango trees. But look at these, they are enormous. Here it is forbidden to cut them down and, as we've been told, they were planted by the French colonists. But look closely at the size of these trees, the giant mango trees. This place is full of mangoes. So many negative things, it was time for something positive. Look at this. One wouldn't expect to find a waterfall of this magnitude here, especially in the dry season. Look at this. Remnants of the floods. See how far the water reaches after the season of heavy rains. Well, so from the old mosque in this small city known as Bobo Dioulasso, in Burkina Faso around sixty percent of its population is Muslim, a bit more than twenty percent are Christian, and around fifteen percent follow ancient African traditions and beliefs, known as animism. You should also know that the situation is critical in this country not only due to the lack of security in political life and street-level insecurity, but also due to poverty and humanitarian crises, including severe hunger. Despite being Africa's fourth-largest gold producer, Burkina Faso is among the ten poorest countries in the world. Burkina has a population of around twenty-two million people, of which around the forty percent of them are living or, better said, trying to survive in this conflictive territory, in conditions of extreme poverty. More than twenty percent are also in intermediate poverty state, and another twenty percent of the population live in moderate poverty. To give you an idea of the situation and to continue with these devastating statistics, around forty percent of the population here survives on just over a single dollar per day. Twenty percent of the population, a bit more than four million people, needs humanitarian aid. In fact, the life expectancy in this African country barely exceeds sixty years. As I have said many times, things that happen here like armed groups, political instability, lack of resources, but also another important thing, the lack of basic services. Over three million people face a severe shortage of food and basic supplies More than two million people lack any kind of healthcare. At the moment, malnutrition is actually the main cause of thirty-five percent of child mortality in Burkina Faso. It is estimated that more than three hundred thousand young children, under five years old, suffer from acute malnutrition. Also in this situation are estimated more than seventy thousand pregnant or nursing women. Here in the south, there are still some crops, there is still food in this area here, there is still some prosperity for local families settled in the south. As we move towards the north, in Sahel, the desert areas, the Sahara Desert, the situation becomes much more complicated. Now we must leave the mosque because prayer time is starting. The locals will begin to arrive soon. This is the women's side, over there is the men's side. We are going to head towards the old town, the ancient city part. I must admit that I am enjoying today's journey, even though we started the day off with a damn big problem. Because we are going to visit some tribal areas, and being in Burkina, few people come. The Lobi nation, known as the Lobi country, and the Ghan ethnic group. Villages, gold prospectors, but we have had to stay here in Bobo. We can't go to the tribes because there are terrorists. We can't film much in the city because they are Muslims and don't like it. Also because the atmosphere is tense, it's obvious. This is not a powder keg like the north, but insecurity is felt in the streets today. We can't go because there are terrorists. Well, how do terrorists attack? They are lightning-fast attacks. They arrive with motorcycles or cars, armed, and it doesn't last more than five or ten minutes. They kill as much as they can and leave. Why do they leave? To avoid having to face the army and also because the military scans the areas with drones, and they are aware of it. The drones arrive quickly. So they come, kill, and leave. They come, kill, and leave. And chasing them is also difficult because many times, apart from the fact that they are armed, as happens with insurgencies in all countries, they dress as civilians. This is not an army. In fact, regarding this, there's another point of interest which is that according to Human Rights, the Burkina Faso government, through these drone attacks, has also caused the death of even dozens of local civilians in its own country at times. Though I also wonder about how much can be seen if they are civilians or not. Purely civilians, meaning, within local families, there are also collaborators of them, there are also informants of the terrorist groups, and even the terrorists themselves often dress as civilians. There is much confusion, many incidents. Here, everything happens very quickly everywhere. There is no battlefront; instead, terrorist attacks are happening all over the entire country, and one ends up getting confused about who the enemy is and who is on your side, right? It is difficult to find supporters in a country where literally anyone can be an enemy, and some of these terrorists' premeditated attacks are aimed at preventing the arrival of food supplies, very often directly breaking and destroying the roads and highways. They focus directly on stopping the arrival of food and supplies to families and villages, especially in the north and east of the country. So we will stay and rest a bit here, in Bobo, because there's no time left to continue and we also can't go out much here. So we will rest today and we will continue tomorrow. We hope to reach Uagadugú, if the road conditions allow it, to the capital city. It's crazy how noticeable the difference is, how we notice the change and evolution of these landscapes of the ecosystem as we are getting closer to the north, heading to Uagadugú, the capital city of Burkina Faso This is a damn desert, it's a barren wasteland. Every once in a while, we come across a lagoon, and since it is the dry season, the animals appear very emaciated. We also see more people begging on the streets. and it's very hard for us to film in the small villages we pass through because when we stop, and all of that, and suddenly all eyes are on us. because few people have seen anyone like us pass by these kinds of villages. We can't deviate much into rural areas to avoid running into those we don't want to meet those we want to avoid. So, we have another couple of hours by car to the capital of the country. So let's see what we find in the main city of a country like Burkina. We are now walking through the streets of Uagadugú, the capital and here the problem is even bigger for filming because first, we couldn't visit the tribes due to terrorists. then, being Muslims, they don't like being filmed, especially if there are women, and here it's full of police and military soldiers who dislike being recorded even more than the others. Moreover, we get into trouble if we do. Well, we are following the instructions given when we entered the country. Never reveal our destination to keep our route secret and not say we're French because they hate them. So let's continue. We have before us an impossible mission to accomplish, at least for now, at this moment. These places are like a powder keg, they are changing suddenly. It depends on the situation, if you enter today, tomorrow, or the next day; you can film or not. you can move along that road or not or you encounter a military checkpoint or not. At this moment, right now, recording here is extremely complicated. Besides the route changes, there's the intense heat. I drink liters and liters of water daily and barely pee because I sweat it all out. It's crazy, I'm covered in dust. The dust chokes you, stains your face, everything. You choke on the dust in the air around. Then we arrive in Uagadugú city, and it's full of police and soldiers. They've followed and watched us through all the streets. We've passed through several police stations, being... being taken from one to another. talking with the chiefs, who are something like police leaders, while we're just walking with cameras in a local market, not even recording a complicated or violent area. It's understandable, this is not a complaint or criticism, it's understandable. The situation here is very complicated, and it's understandable they prioritize security. I'm just saying that... It is truly an impossible mission. Yes, these past days have helped us to investigate more thoroughly, at least indoors, with the people we have encountered for the moment, talking in some restaurants, talking with people in various markets, a bit about the situation, also the reasons for these terrorists to attack as they do. I have to speak softly because there are also some people around, and certain keywords are the same in Spanish, English, and French, so, well, we have also to talk carefully ¿The reasons for terrorists to kill are religion and political issues? The reality is that there's a much more complicated background because often it's an ethnic and social issue. The government crushes, persecutes, and complicates excessively the lives of some ethnic groups like the Fulani, the Pol We have lived with them in Benin and in Mali, they are all over the Sahel territory. They are a nomadic and semi-nomadic group in the Sahel, like the Touareg in Mali, we talked about it in the two thousand twenty-one. Here it's the same, they are out of the system, the forgotten of the country, and it's studied that most or many terrorist commands are Fulani. who basically do this as revenge against the government, for ruining their lives. It is revenge, it's a social issue and here that is the problem. And as if that weren't enough, it complicates things more, again, something we've discussed many times on the channel, once more, climate change. Increasingly, a terrible situation is experienced, which is the struggle for limited resources, scarce goods like land and water, which fosters social tension, more and more social tension, and some communities, ethnic groups, some areas of the country become increasingly vulnerable and in those conditions they end up joining these radical groups. What is the current government plan to combat this critical situation? The current head of state, Ibrahim Traoré, declared a total and absolute war against terrorism. He just expelled the French army from the country. He also said the Burkinabe army would achieve victory, with the assistance of the Russians, the Wagner mercenaries I don't know what the situation is now with the ongoing war in Ukraine that still continues and continues The reality is that we could label the plan, at least for now, as an absolute disaster. Ibrahim Traoré recruited civilians and armed them. Most were shepherds who knew the terrain, we are talking about fifty thousand men. An army that was poorly trained, inadequately prepared, and with no real experience in the field of battle, fighting against a powerful enemy that is as complex as ISIS group or Al Qaeda. Most attacks occur in civilian areas of the part, let's say, controlled by the government and increasingly closer to the capital city, to Uagadugú city However, the government's action in terrorist zones of the country is practically minimal, minimal, and there are twice as many casualties in the national army forces than in the radicals. That said, locals have told us more than once since we are here, and this would be a positive point really, that something is changing, that they are feeling the beginning of a change because they are making the borders more rigid, stricter, and less porous. The borders of Burkina, Mali, Niger, there is that triangle of death and terrorists flow and jump between the three countries, that triple border. If Mali's army attacks, they move to another country, if they attack from Burkina, they jump to Niger. The border is too porous, there is no control, just like between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Here they inform me that they are making the border significantly stricter and much less porous so that they can no longer do that and that the armies of the three nations can corner them, which now in fact are also having that international cooperation, they are acting together, and this could be an ace up the sleeve that tips the balance, changing the situation. And hopefully it will be so, especially for the locals. Here it is very complicated to record and be present, not just because of the army, not just because of being Muslims regarding cameras, women, and more. Also, this is not a life to live. What exists in this country now is not life, when it is basically surviving from hunger, from thirst, from insecurity. So then We are now in our final hours here. I hope to return to this country, and I am sure I will. I hope to find myself in another kind of situation and I also hope to reach these tribal areas and be able to document other topics besides terrorism and misery. Stay tuned to the channel, this will keep going on. Thanks and see you next time.