Reports:BBC World Service from Tamale, Ghana
Burkina Faso’s military is struggling to defeat jihadists who have taken control of much territory.
Three Ghanaians have told the BBC of their involvement in the fighting between Islamist insurgents and the military in neighbouring Burkina Faso, describing scenes of sometimes indiscriminate violence and bloody battles.
“We are always with the dead. In some battles, I’ve seen 40, 50 or 100 dead people,” one of the men told the BBC.
The three, all in their late thirties or early forties, said they had fought in Burkina Faso multiple times since 2018. They crossed the porous 550km-long (340-mile) border between the two countries, without being detected by the security forces.
They denied being primarily motivated by religion or being trained by the jihadists, saying they went to fight to defend civilian communities with whom they had strong family and ethnic ties.
“My elder brother, his wife and children were all killed by the [Burkinabe] army. It pains me a lot. The military came to their community in the forest. They killed all of them, a whole household, including 29 people,” one of the men said.
But another of the men did articulate religious zeal, saying: “If you die while fighting with the jihadists, then you are driving to jannah (an Islamic word for paradise), on the path of the righteous.”
Challenged over whether they had taken part in civilian attacks, the men were divided.
One denied doing so, but another conceded that he did.
“Some local people support the military in attacking us, that’s why we have to kill them too,” he said.
“You know… I’m not happy to fight like this. The number of people we kill, the people the military kill, it’s very bad. But this fight has entered our blood,” he added.
All three spoke on condition of anonymity.
The BBC was unable to confirm their claims but they showed us pictures of weapons, described the location of recent conflicts and named jihadist commanders in Burkina Faso.
The BBC was put in touch with the men through contacts at cattle markets in northern Ghana, where jihadist groups are alleged to be recruiting fighters.
