Burkinabe government rejects ECOWAS' use of the term "genocide" for the Karma killings
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The government of Burkina Faso has expressed surprise at a statement from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and a tweet from its president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, that described the tragedy in Karma (North) on 20 April 2023, where 147 civilians were killed as "genocide", according to the latest report from Amnesty International.
"The government of Burkina Faso would like to draw the attention of His Excellency President Embalo and that of the ECOWAS Commission to the fact that a qualification as serious as 'genocide' on the events that have plunged the Burkinabe into mourning must necessarily be made under the light of an investigation by a duly authorized body," wrote the government spokesperson, Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo.
"The investigation opened by the Burkinabe judicial authority is part of this professional and prudent approach," he added.
"For Ouagadougou, by allowing himself a 'hasty and peremptory qualification' of the facts of Karma from thousands of kilometres from Burkina Faso, even before the conclusions of investigations underway, the current president of ECOWAS 'dangerously interferes' on behalf of his peers with the judicial institution of Burkina Faso whose integrity and independence cannot suffer doubts."
Amnesty International, which announced on Tuesday that it had collected testimonies from survivors, said in a statement that the Burkina Faso authorities must immediately take steps to end attacks on civilians in the context of the armed conflict and conduct an impartial and independent investigation into the crimes that occurred on 20 April in Karma, which could be qualified as war crimes.
At a press conference of Karma nationals on 29 April, the death toll was put at 147 people, including 45 children. The killings were condemned both inside and outside Burkina Faso.
The government of Burkina Faso, in an official statement issued on 27 April 2023, "strongly condemned the despicable and barbaric acts" perpetrated against the peaceful people of Karma.
-0- PANA TNDD/JSG/BBA/RA 3May2023
