Self-defence Militias and State Sponsorship in Burkina Faso

Since 2015-16, Burkina Faso has been engulfed in an ongoing conflict with jihadist insurgent groups active across the Sahel in West Africa. As the conflict escalated, the use of armed militias in Burkina Faso became widespread and was actively sponsored by the State which led to concerns over the militias’ potential to perpetuate conflict. The main reasons are that self-defence militias in Burkina Faso are exacerbating mutual distrust, tension and violence among different communities, while the use and State sponsorship of militias are exposing the civilian population to reprisals from the insurgents who perceive them as a threat. The result is that the previous President, Roch Marc Kaboré, might have done more harm than good by creating self-defence militias under the legal framework of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDPs) adopted unanimously by Burkina Faso’s Parliament in January 2020.