The Volunteers for the Defence of the
Fatherland (VDP) will act as auxiliaries under military control.
Burkina Faso’s parliament on Tuesday,
January 21 unanimously adopted a law allowing for the recruitment of Volunteers
for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) – local volunteers who will act as
auxiliaries in the fight against militants.
Parliament approved the new law as the
government said a “terrorist group” killed 32 civilians in Nagraogo village and
four more people in Alamou village in Sanmatenga province in the Centre-Nord
Region the previous day.
Faced with these “repeated attacks” against
civilians, the government launched an appeal for the people’s “frank
collaboration” with the defence and security forces.
Burkina Faso’s badly equipped, poorly
trained and underfunded security forces have been unable to stem growing
violence, which surged throughout 2019. According to a BBC analysis of data
from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), there were
almost 1,900 reported fatalities due armed violence in the country in 2019. Of
those, 859 deaths were attributed to Islamist groups. Other analyses put the
toll even higher.
Volunteers for the Defence of the
Fatherland
Acknowledging that Burkina Faso’s Defence
and Security Forces (FDS) were “understaffed, given the nature of the threat,”
Defence Minister Chériff Sy told parliament that the volunteers “will
participate in meeting the challenges of the moment,” Le Faso reported.
He said the VDP volunteers would be
auxiliaries under military control, and their recruitment would enable the FDS
to conduct other operations.
The volunteers’ mission is to contribute to
the protection of people and property in their village or locality, Infowakat
reported.
According to a document seen by AFP,
volunteers aged over 18 will be recruited in agreement with local populations.
They will receive 14 days training in human
rights, discipline and weapons, after which they will be given small arms and
communications equipment.
The recruits will be expected to conduct
surveillance and provide information and protection for their local communities
in the event of an attack while waiting for security forces to deploy, the
minister said.
“It is not a question of making cannon
fodder out of them,” Sy said, adding that the government wanted to make sure
the volunteers did not become militias.
But the VDP volunteers will be prohibited
from carrying out police investigations or “missions to maintain law and
order,” Infowakat reported.
No date has been set for the start of VDP
recruitment and training.
Source: The Defence Post- 22 January 2020
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