For an indefinite period, only vital emergencies will be insured in the country. The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced on Friday that it was suspending all of its activities in Burkina Faso, after two of its employees were killed on February 8 in an attack by suspected jihadists in the northwest of the country. .
“Following the attack during which two MSF employees were killed on February 8 in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, we are suspending all of our activities in the country,” the NGO announced in a statement.
“In all localities where MSF supports and provides medical and humanitarian aid, only vital emergencies will be provided for an indefinite period”, specifies the text.
On Wednesday, February 8, MSF announced the death of two of its Burkinabe employees, killed the same day by “armed men” who had “targeted” a “clearly identified Doctors Without Borders vehicle”.
The vehicle, which was carrying a medical team of four, was on the road between Dédougou and Tougan, in the northwest of the country.
“This measure, necessary for the time of mourning, is essential to analyze the risks to which our teams are currently exposed”, explains the NGO.
“It is also a question of reaffirming the unacceptable nature of this attack against colleagues traveling in a clearly identified MSF vehicle as part of their medical mission,” she adds.
On February 8, MSF President Isabelle Defourny denounced “a deliberate and intentional attack”.
Burkina Faso, the scene of two military coups in 2022, has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali a few years earlier and which has spread beyond its borders.
Thursday, five people, including two soldiers, were killed during an attack in the province of Tapoa (east).
The violence left more than 12,000 dead – civilians and soldiers – according to the NGO Acled, which lists the victims of conflicts around the world.
Some two million people are internally displaced.
