Burkina Faso has rejected a report that said more than 1,800 civilians have been killed in acts amounting to “crimes against humanity” in the three years since Ibrahim Traoré seized power.
The government on Sunday called the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report “false,” dismissing the findings as “conjecture and serious unfounded claims.”
The report has “only one purpose… to demonise” the country’s troops, who have always fought with “professionalism,” its statement added.
The government has dismissed previous accusations that its forces have killed civilians. Last week, the HRW attributed most of the killings, 1,255, to the military and allied militias.
The rights group blamed the rest of the deaths on Islamist militants.
About 1,837 civilians were killed in 57 incidents between January 2023 and August 2025, including dozens of children, the report said.
HRW found President Traoré and six senior military commanders “may be liable as a matter of command responsibility for grave abuses and should be investigated.”
It also said five jihadist leaders may be culpable.
One of the reasons the military gave for seizing power was to tackle the jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda, who have been waging an insurgency in Burkina Faso and neighbouring countries for over a decade, and control huge parts of the country.
The report is based on analysis of
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open-source information, including photos, videos, and satellite imagery, and interviews with witnesses and survivors.
“All sides are responsible for the war crimes of willful killing, attacks on civilians and civilian objects, pillage and looting, and forced displacement,” the report said.
It accused the junta of committing “horrific abuses” and failing to hold perpetrators to account while blocking reporting to hide the suffering of civilians caught in the violence.
“The scale of atrocities taking place in Burkina Faso is mind-boggling, as is the lack of global attention to this crisis,” said Philippe Bolopion, HRW’s executive director.
