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Tanguy Quidelleur

Arming Civilians in Burkina Faso. The State, the War on Terror and the Militarisation of Society

Megatrends Policy Brief 22, 21.02.2024, 8 Pages

doi:10.18449/2024MTA-PB22

Since 2016, jihadists affiliated with JNIM and ISGS have spread across Burkina Faso, offering resources and protection to marginalized areas while expelling state officials. This has fueled violence, reignited communal rivalries, and routinised armed mobilizations, as the use of weapons increasingly became a commonplace social practice.

Local defence force volunteers ride on a motorbike through Ouagadougou, part of Burkina Faso's initiative to recruit civilians in combating jihadist violence, March 14, 2020.

Local defence force volunteers ride on a motorbike through Ouagadougou, part of Burkina Faso's initiative to recruit civilians in combating jihadist violence, March 14, 2020.

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