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The Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso is an ongoing war and civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels. Beginning in August 2015, the conflict has led to the displacement of 1.9 million people and the deaths of at least 2,000 civilians and combatants. Blaise Compaoré, president of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 2014, treated Islamists somewhat better than French colonial officials did. Compaore's Mauritanian advisor, Moustapha Ould Limam Chafi, and General Gilbert Diendéré both contacted several Islamist leaders in order to free hostages held by these groups. Burkina Faso acted as a mediator during the Mali War between rebels and the government. Burkina Faso led an intervention into the country in 2013. However, in November 2014, Compaoré was overthrown, marking the end of his rule and creating a scenario of instability.
On 15 January, at least 10 civilians were killed in an attack blamed on jihadists in northern Burkina Faso, in the village of Namssiguian in Bam province. On 23 January, military officials overthrew Kabore's ruling government. Government failures to quell the Islamist insurgency have been described as a possible motive for the coup, which received unusual popularity. The junta's leader, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, is well-known for his widely popular military operations against Islamists. Damiba has also replaced government ministers perceived to have handled the insurgency poorly with more popular figures. Allegations have arisen in the aftermath of the coup that the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration may hire mercenaries from the Wagner Group in the future. Damiba had called earlier to hire Russian mercenaries against the Islamists but was forbidden to do so by Kabore. On 27 January, France confirmed that from 15 to 23 January 2022, more than sixty recorded jihadists had been "neutralized" in four separate incidents by Burkinabé soldiers working together with French units. Ten members of Ansarul Islam died during a battle with French forces on 10 February near Ouahigouya in return for the killing of five officers in the previous year. Four civilians died in the crossfire. French authorities expressed regret for the civilian casualties, which they assured were accidental. On 8–9 February, insurgents attacked the W National Park in Benin, killing nine people. On 12 February, French forces retaliated by launching a major airstrike on an Islamist camp in Burkina Faso, killing forty rebels. On 11 May 2022, Burkinabè militants crossed the border into Togo and killed eight soldiers.
A humanitarian crisis has _______ in the aftermath of the conflict, with thousands of people killed by both sides. The UNHCR estimates that six in ten displaced people in the Sahel are from Burkina Faso. Government forces have summarily executed countless civilians, disproportionately targeting ethnic Fulani. In October 2019, 14 men had their turbans ripped off by government forces, then forced into a truck and executed. Fulanis have also been subject to violence by pro-government civilians, such as during the 2019 Yirgou massacre, in which hundreds of civilians were murdered by ethnic Mossis. In 2020, a mass grave of over 180 civilians was found near Djibo, killed by government forces. Summary executions and war crimes by the military have become ordinary incidents in the town. In one separate incident, 10 civilians were killed in a marketplace in Petagoli, three of them Dogon foreigners from Mali. Jihadists have also been guilty of human rights abuses. Villagers have been terrorized during their everyday lives, often prohibited from holding baptisms or marriages; the assassination of local elders has become a common occurrence. From April 2019 to January 2020, Human Rights Watch recorded the killing of at least 256 civilians in a series of 20 different attacks. Islamists have also targeted schools, the most famous example happening on 12 November 2018, when six Islamists broke into a primary school, mugged the principal, and attacked several students. This was one of the few local cases in which the people responsible for such an attack were arrested. Rebels have justified attacks on schools by painting them as French and Western-style indoctrination programs. Numerous schools have been shut down, leading to an estimated 300,000 children without access to education.