Some Ghanaians take part in the battle with the military

Three Ghanaians spoke to the BBC about their involvement in combat between Islamists and the military in neighbouring Burkina Faso, explaining scenes of sometimes indiscriminate violence and bloody battles.

“We’ve always been with the deaths. In some battles, I’ve seen 40, 50 or 100 deaths,” one of the men told the BBC.

The three said they were in their late 30s or early 40s and have fought multiple times in Burkina Faso since 2018. They crossed the 550km long (340 miles) border between the two countries without being detected by security forces.

They denied that they were motivated primarily by religion or trained by jihadists, saying they went to the fight to protect civilian communities where they had strong family and ethnic ties. Ta.

“My brother, his wife, and children were all killed by the army (Burkinabe). It hurts me a lot. The army came to the forest community. They had all households, including 29 people. I killed him,” said one of the men.

But another man said, “If you die while fighting the jihadists, you are driving to Janna (Islamic in Paradise) on the path of justice.”

Challenging whether they took part in civilian attacks, the men split.

One denied doing so, while the other admitted what he did.

“Some locals support the troops when attacking us, so we have to kill them too,” he said.

“You know… I’m not happy to be able to fight this way. The number of people we kill, the people who kill the army, it’s very bad. But this fight is what we’re talking about It got into blood,” he added.

All three spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The BBC could not confirm their claims, but they showed us pictures of the weapons, explained the location of the recent conflict, and named them the jihadist commander of Burkina Faso.

The BBC contacted the man through contact at the cattle market in northern Ghana. It is said that jihadist groups are recruiting fighter jets there.

In 2022, the promise of the France-based NGO said the study showed that jihadists recruited between 200 and 300 young Ghanaians.

Netherlands Institute of International Relations Think TankIn a report released last Julysaid jihadists adopted “minimal success” in Ghana.

However, the man offered a different perspective, telling the BBC with a claim that it failed to confirm that “every part of Ghana” and “many” ethnic groups were participating in the Burkina Faso rebellion.

“Some people are fighting for jihad. Some are doing it for business,” one of them said.

Financial incentives come in the form of abundant livestock that jihadists steal from communities that have been driven out of their villages.

“When we attack a community, we take their animals: sometimes 50, sometimes 100,” the BBC was told by one of the men.

The cows are said to be brought to northern Ghana and sold in the market.

Cross-border trafficking was confirmed by the BBC by cattle dealers.

It is believed to have become a major revenue stream for groups like Jamaat Nusrat Uru Isla Mwa al Muslimin (Jnim), an affiliate of al-Qaeda, the most active jihadist group in Burkina Faso. It also works in Niger and Mali.

The West Africa region was described by the United Nations last year as the epicenter of global jihadist violence.

The aid agencies say so Over the past decade, around 2 million people have been evacuated by rebellions Tens of thousands of people have died in Burkina Faso.

Nympoa Nouri is one of the thousands who fled to Ghana to escape violence.

She told the BBC that her husband was killed in front of her in 2024 when Junim fighters attacked a village in eastern Burkina Faso.

“They grabbed men and beat them and died. My husband was a farmer. He had nothing to do with government militias or conflict,” she told the BBC.

Other refugees described similar violence by the Burkinabe army.

“Some of the people they were killing were 80 and 90. These people don’t have guns and can’t fight anyone. They killed them for no reason,” says Saafiya Karim. said.

Ghana has so far been barely mentioned the rebellion, but several attacks have taken place on nearby Togo and the Ivory coast.

In a recent statement to Ghanaian journalist Mohamed Elias Tanko, the man who calls Jnim’s representative said the group has no interest in launching an attack in Ghana.

“They (Jnim Fighters) are not allowed to take action against Ghana. This is a clear and certain statement. Jnim does not seek a war against Ghana,” said the man known as Ansari, and the BBC said. I stated in a statement I saw. .

However, the surge in joint violence in parts of northern Ghana has raised concerns that jihadists are trying to misuse the conflict for their interests.

The town of Bawku is caught up in a decades-long struggle between various ethnic groups to rule the local chief. Since the battle intensified last October, it is believed that more than 100 people have been killed in clashes.

“Evenings in Bawku are always (one) gunshots and intense interaction. People use AK47s, M16s, all sorts of automatic rifles,” the resident told the BBC.

Jnim Smugglers have been accused of selling weapons on both sides.

“We understand that they supply weapons they took from the Burkina Faso army. They do this by relying on trucks that move to Niger and carry on onions. They are among those trucks I’ll hide my weapon.”

“An intelligence officer confirmed with me that this is a new way for them to bring firearms, and Ghana’s security should be able to detect these vehicles and put Ghana in a very important situation. It’s not equipped,” he added.

Ghana’s Defense Minister Edward Oman Boama did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

President John Mahama, who took office in January in the December presidential election, visited Burke last month to promote peace between rival groups. However, shootouts continue to be reported.

Sammy Gyamfi, a spokesman for Governance Party in Ghana, told the BBC that ending violence in Bauk is the government’s “first priority.”

“The violence has already spread, and if care is not taken place, it is likely that rebels in the wider region will be able to take advantage of this conflict,” he said.

Three men spoke to by the BBC said they would not rule out the possibility of a rebellion spreading.

“This thing can go anywhere, or anywhere, and it didn’t exist in Togo, but now there’s an attack happening. If you can go to Togo, you can go to Ghana. “One of them said.

However, another man took a sarcastic perspective and said that Burkina Faso’s rebels were no longer initiating a “Islamic struggle.”

“They just killed people and stole livestock. I don’t like it because what’s going on is not jihad,” he said.

You can listen to Ed Butler’s report on the BBC World Services assignment program.