Tension is currently brewing between Nigeria and Burkina Faso following the killing of 16 Nigerian Muslim pilgrims by gunmen wearing the Burkinabe Army uniforms.
According to media reports, the Nigerian pilgrims, were travelling in a convoy of luxurious and mini-buses on their way to a pilgrimage in Kaolack, Senegal, when they were flagged down by the gunmen wearing uniforms of Burkinabe soldiers, who asked the passengers to disembark from the vehicles, randomly selected some and summarily shot them to death.
While the Burkina Faso military junta has debunked reports that the attackers were their soldiers, the Nigerian government has, however, vowed to go after the killers of its citizens even if it has to breach the territorial integrity of the West African neighbours.
Burkina Faso’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Olivia Rouamba, during a meeting with the Nigerian ambassador to Burkina Faso, Misitura Abdulraheem, assured that “investigations are opened to clarify the situation”.
“For the time being, there is no concrete information or element picked up on the field that proves the veracity of these facts,” Rouamba said at the meeting.
But in a statement by the Nigerian presidency, President Muhammadu Buhari said the West African giant will go after the killers and bring them to book by all means.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Nigerian Embassy in Burkina Faso, is engaging with the Burkinabe authorities and awaits the outcome of their investigation of the unfortunate incident, and if necessary, to ensure that all culprits are appropriately sanctioned,’ the statement signed by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, Garba Shehu, said.
According to a Senegalese religious order, the pilgrims were on their way to a religious ceremony in Senegal from Niger and Nigeria, a trip that involves crossing conflict hotspots in northern Burkina Faso and central Mali.
For years, Burkina Faso, like many West African countries , have been battling armed groups with links to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) that spilled over from neighbouring Mali in 2015.