OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — It was a walk 16-year-old Adama had taken countless times while feeding the cows not far from his grandmother’s house in northern Burkina Faso. But one day in mid-February, the teenager who dreamed of becoming an imam didn’t come home.
The next time his family saw him, it was in a harrowing cellphone video that circulated on social media in the days after his disappearance. Adama lay next to six other bloodied boys, their hands tied and most stripped to the waist. They were surrounded by about a dozen men, many in military uniform, walking among the bodies, some filming.
As he sprinted through the frame, a man came to a halt over Adama and hit him in the head with a rock. As blood gushed from the jagged wound, the man shooting the video giggled.
“This one…was alive,” the man said, referring to Adama, whose last name is being withheld by The Associated Press out of concerns for his family’s safety. “Good for nothing! You have nothing to do but kill people. We will kill you one by one.”
Burkina Faso’s military has denied responsibility for the killings, which constitute a potential war crime under international law.
A frame-by-frame analysis of the 83-second video by the AP and an examination of satellite imagery show that the killings occurred inside a military base about 2 kilometers (1 1/4 miles) northwest of Ouahigouya, a regional capital nearby , took place Adama lived. From their uniforms and vehicles, the AP also determined that the troops in the video were members of the Burkina Faso security forces, who until recently had received military training and equipment from the United States and the European Union.
Through exclusive interviews with Adama’s mother and uncle, the AP was also able to reconstruct his final hours. In response to a request for comment on the AP’s findings, the US government condemned the killings as “horrific” and called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.
The story goes on
___ Burkina Faso is the epicenter of Islamist extremist violence across Africa. For the past seven years, the landlocked country has been plagued by al-Qaeda and Islamic State-related violence, which has killed thousands, displaced about 10% of the country’s 20 million people and destabilized the nation.
Frustration at the government’s inability to stem the violence led to two coups last year by military juntas who vowed to stamp out the insurgency. Still, little has changed, with Burkina Faso overtaking Afghanistan as the country with the highest death toll from extremist violence in the world, according to a recent Global Terrorism Index report.
Burkina Faso, a former French colony that gained independence in 1960, is a majority Muslim country initially spared by the jihadist violence that began 10 years ago in neighboring Mali. France sent troops to the region in 2013 to repel Islamist militants. Since then, violence has swept across the Sahel, the vast semi-arid region south of the Sahara.
Despite the jihadist violence, some civilians say they are now more fearful of Burkina Faso’s security forces, whom they accuse of extrajudicial killings and the disappearance of scores of others accused of supporting the militants. Too often children become victims of conflict.
The killings took place under the junta led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in September. Traore promised to stem the violence but people say they fear the repressive regime as security in the country worsens.
Part of the junta’s strategy has been to recruit around 50,000 volunteer fighters for service alongside the military, but residents say this has only contributed to civilian killings, as the volunteers arrest anyone they suspect of links to the extremists.
Those ambushed by government forces are often ethnic Fulani, a largely Muslim group who make up less than 10% of the population and live mainly in the north, where fighting has been most intense. The Fulani are believed to work with the militants, whom they target in part due to their historical grievances with the state and the fact that they live in regions where the militants have seized large areas.
The day Adama, who was Fulani, disappeared, his grandmother was combing her village looking for him. Hours later, she learned the truth: her grandson and a herdsman friend, whom the family identified only as Ousseni, had been seized by six men on motorcycles and taken blindfolded to a military base. Ousseni, who is not Fulani, told her security forces briefly questioned him before releasing him.
Ousseni said while the boys were locked up, he overheard the troops accusing them of being jihadists. Fearing for his life, Ousseni fled the country shortly after speaking to Adama’s grandmother.
The video, showing Adama’s head being crushed by a rock, began circulating on WhatsApp chat groups around February 14. A few days later, the teenager’s body was found on a roadside several kilometers (miles) from the military base where the video was filmed.
The AP spoke to members of Adama’s family who fled their homes after his disappearance. Adama’s uncle heard that his nephew had been kidnapped by security forces to the boy’s grandmother, who told what Ousseni had told her. Adama’s mother learned of her son’s seizure separately from a relative who saw him being grabbed by security forces. Neither Adama’s uncle nor his mother wanted their names used for fear of reprisals.
During an interview with the AP last month, the 40-year-old uncle shook his head as he played video showing his nephew’s lifeless body.
“No one can escape death, but it’s how you die that makes a difference. This way of dying is so terrible,” he said. He recognized his nephew by the blue shorts he was wearing and his body, he said.
Adama’s mother did not see the video; the family withheld it from her to spare her further torment. His body was buried by neighbors.
___ According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), nearly 300 civilians were killed in attacks by Burkina Faso’s security forces between October and February, compared with about 100 in the same period a year ago. The violence has also taken a sharp ethnic turn, with the Fulani, including children, increasingly being targeted by security forces on suspicion of supporting the jihadists, according to human rights organizations.
“In counter-terrorism sweep operations, most of the children arrested are Fulani. These children generally herd the livestock,” said Dr. Daouda Diallo, pharmacologist and general secretary of Collective Against Impunity and Community Stigma, a local rights group.
He said security forces falsely suspect the children of “being spies informing the terrorists. And that’s why they’re being… arrested.”
Amid violence against civilians and ethnic divisions, the junta is attempting to project an image of national unity.
Murals of soldiers mingling with residents and calling for an end to extremist violence line the streets of the capital. In one, a soldier and a civilian raise a torch over the words, “Work Together to Overcome Terrorism.” Another has a big red “X” under the words “No to Stigma”. The AP said militants often disguised themselves as security forces and filmed their actions to blame the government.
“There’s a big human rights component in the training of our soldiers and our (volunteers) and in all units we have provost marshals on guard duty,” he said.
But using visual evidence from the video, the AP was able to trace the location where it was filmed to a military base called Camp Zondoma northwest of Ouahigouya, not far from where Adama was reported to have been kidnapped. The buildings and trees in the video match recent satellite imagery of an area within the base. The shadows cast by objects in the video fix the time at around 11 o’clock
Analysis of the soldiers’ uniforms and their vehicles shows that they match those of Burkina Faso’s armed forces. To support the fight against the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda, the US and EU have provided Burkina Faso with tens of millions of dollars worth of military training and equipment, including armored vehicles, drones, communications equipment, uniforms, helmets and body armor.
Two camouflaged pickup trucks shown in the video are Toyota Land Cruiser Series 70s with rear-mounted seats for troops. It is the same model shipped to Burkina Faso by the US and EU.
A larger troop carrier seen in the video is a Mercedes-Benz Atego. The US Department of Defense delivered 10 trucks of this model and color to Burkina Faso in 2014.
Four members of the security forces in the video were wearing shirts with the Burkina Faso flag on the left arm, and the boots some were wearing appeared to be Mil-Tecs, the same German brand that the EU recently made available to Burkina Faso’s military had asked.
Documents indicate that Camp Zondoma is home to the Burkinabe Army’s 12th Commando Infantry Regiment, although the AP has been unable to positively link the uniforms worn by the men to that particular unit.
The AP shared its findings with the University of California, Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, which conducts investigations into war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The center agreed that the visual evidence shows the video was filmed at the military base outside of Ouahigouya and that the uniforms and trucks match those of government forces in Burkina Faso.
In a response to the AP, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said foreign aid to Burkina Faso had been curtailed since the military overthrew the democratically elected government in January 2022, he said.
“We strongly condemn the appalling violence depicted in the video,” Patel said. “Allegations of human rights violations and abuses must be fairly investigated, and those held accountable must be held accountable.”
EU support to Burkina Faso’s security and defense sector has specifically focused on human rights and international humanitarian law, and no lethal weapons have been supplied or financed, said Nabila Massrali, an EU spokeswoman. The EU is also investing in Burkina Faso’s military justice system and military police to fight impunity, she said.
While AP cannot verify the exact date the video was shot, a former Burkinabe government official and a soldier said the boys were killed after militants attacked a volunteer militant outpost on February 13, a day before the video was first leaked social media appeared media. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Security reports collected by ACLED, the data analysis group, show that Islamist militants attacked the volunteers that day, killing at least one and injuring two. According to the former government official, army reinforcements arrived shortly thereafter and the killings in the video were carried out by security forces.
On Feb. 15, a day after the video appeared online, the chief of staff of Burkina Faso’s armed forces issued an order to soldiers to stop posting images of operations on social media, according to a copy obtained by AP.
“These dissemination of controversial images could have negative consequences and affect the dynamics of the security forces,” it said.
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As security in Burkina Faso worsens, children on all sides are bearing the brunt, human rights groups say. According to UNICEF, three times more children were killed in the first nine months of 2022 than in the same period last year. Most died from gunshot wounds in attacks on their villages or from improvised explosive devices or other remnants of war, sources said.
“We are concerned about the impact of counter-terrorism efforts on children associated with armed groups, while preventing and countering threats to national security,” said Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative on children and armed conflict. Children linked to armed forces and groups should be treated as victims in line with international standards of juvenile justice, she said.
Despite the Burkinabe government’s claims that its armed forces were not responsible for the deaths, conflict experts said militants do not usually commit atrocities and blame state security forces. Nor do they kill children for fear of offending the local population.
“Jihadists usually carry out (carry out) public executions against people collaborating with the state or opposition groups and will take responsibility for sending a message. They also don’t execute children so they can maintain their popularity among the populace,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank.
Stephen Rapp, who served as US war crimes ambassador during the Obama administration, said the killings of Adama and the other boys in the video are war crimes under the Geneva Conventions and could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court, of which Burkina Faso is a party.
“This would be a war crime even if the children had aided jihadists or been child soldiers themselves,” said Rapp, the chief prosecutor in the trial of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, who was convicted of war crimes in Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war in 2012.
“Persons not taking part in combat operations, as well as detained combatants, are entitled to humane treatment and killing them is murder as a war crime under international law,” Rapp said. “As such, these soldiers could be prosecuted before the ICC.”
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Adama’s mother said there was no sign her son had become radicalized when he returned to Ouahigouya a year ago after spending a decade studying at a madrassa in the western city of Nouna. While he was at school, she had no contact with her son other than the occasional phone call.
Their reunion over the past year should be the start of a new life together, she said.
“We thought of building a life together and living together in joy. He would get married and build a house. Unfortunately we didn’t have that chance,” said the 52-year-old. Dressed in a long veil with matching silver bracelets on each arm, she beamed whenever she spoke about her son’s life and the dreams they had, but quickly grew somber as she recalled his death.
An energetic kid, Adama learned to walk before he could even crawl and has always been innovative, playing ticket games with his younger siblings, she said.
After returning to Ouahigouya, he lived with his grandmother. But whenever Adama visited him, his mother said, they stayed up for hours talking about life as a girl and his plans for the future. He wants to become an imam and educate people, she said.
She recalled him studying the Koran, often by candlelight at night and questioning neighbors about its teachings, always clutching his white prayer beads. He had the beads with him on the day of his arrest, family members said.
Adama’s mother last saw him in October when he was staying at her home for several weeks. As he left, she warned him to be careful because the situation had become dangerous and never stray far from his grandmother’s house. When they last spoke in February, just before he was killed, they were making plans to reunite for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.
Adama’s family were too scared to visit his grave because they were worried about being attacked by the security forces.
“If he had lived long, I’m sure he would have helped develop our community,” his mother said. “He would have become an imam to teach people to be good Muslims. He would have helped people to live together and he would have supported those in need.”
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AP Global Investigative Reporter Michael Biesecker reported from Washington.
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Follow AP West Africa correspondent Sam Mednick at twiiter.com/sammednick and Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck