In a statement late on Saturday, Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo vehemently rejected and condemned the baseless accusations.
He stated, “The killings at Nodin and Soro led to the opening of a legal inquiry,” emphasising that the inquiry is underway to establish facts and identify perpetrators.
Ouedraogo criticised HRW for prematurely identifying “the guilty” and issuing its verdict. HRW described the massacre as “among the worst army abuses in Burkina Faso since 2015.”
The New York-based organisation asserted on Thursday that the mass killings “appear to be part of a widespread military campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with Islamist armed groups, and may amount to crimes against humanity.”
In response, the Burkina Faso statement stated, “The media campaign orchestrated around these accusations fully shows the unavowed intention … to discredit our fighting forces.”
The government highlighted that “All the allegations of violations and abuses of human rights reported in the framework of the fight against terrorism are systematically subject to investigations” conducted by both the government and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The junta announced on Thursday the suspension of the BBC and Voice of America radio networks from broadcasting, following their airing of a report accusing the army of attacks on civilians in the battle against terrorists.
The West African nation, now under military rule, has been grappling with an insurgency that originated from neighboring Mali in 2015.
The conflict has resulted in thousands of civilian, troop, and police casualties, with two million people displaced from their homes. Anger within the military over the rising casualties prompted two coups in 2022.
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