Searches are underway to find 50 women kidnapped in Burkina Faso

In northern Burkina Faso, reports have begun to emerge of a kidnapping that took place late last week near the town of Arbinda, in a part of the Sahel under jihadist control. Around 50 women were snatched as they gathered fruits and plants in the bush because of severe food shortage.

The kidnapping happened last Thursday 12 January and Friday 13 January but the information only emerged recently, after three women who managed to escape reported what happened.

Local authorities said that the army and its civilian auxiliaries who have joined the Volunteers for the Homeland have searched the area but, so far, have not found the abductees.

The Sahelian province of Soum in northern Burkina Faso – near Mali and Niger –  is largely controlled by jihadist groups like Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and Ansar-ul Islam. They are blocking food and supplies from reaching the town of Arbinda and the surrounding area.

“A large group of around 40 women went together, last Thursday, to get fruits and plants in the bush as we do not have any food anymore,” a local resident told French news agency AFP.

Due to the prevalent insecurity, farmers do not dare work their land. Last November, local civil society groups warned about an impending crisis.

“The population has used up its food reserves, we are on the brink of a humanitarian disaster,” said Idrissa Badini, a civil society spokesperson told AFP.

A second group of 15 women and some children from a different village who did not hear about the abduction and set up foraging the next day, Friday, were also abducted.

“This is not new,” said Flore Berger, Sahel analyst at Global Initiative told RFI's David Baché. “We've seen similar occurrences in northern Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali, even though it is quite a large number of women this time.”

Berger said that she views the abductions as a weapon of war, similar to attacks on civilians or bombings.

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“It is a form of intimidation. The abducted women are released with a message to their husbands instructing them to stop fighting and that everybody should now leave the village.

“The kidnappers also try to get information out of women whose husbands have enrolled in the Volunteers for the Homeland.

“The abduction of women can also lead to forced marriages with JNIM fighters,” she said.

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been grappling with an insurgency led by jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group which has killed tens of thousands and displaced around two million people.

The country has already seen two coups by disgruntled army officers that have put the military in power.

The United Nations says nearly one million people are living in blockaded areas in the north and east of Burkina Faso.