Burkina Faso says HRW massacre accusations baseless | Human Rights News [Video]

Burkina Faso has said a Human Rights Watch report alleging that soldiers killed at least 223 villagers in two attacks on February 25 made “baseless accusations”.

The HRW report on Thursday accused the military of executing residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with rebel fighters. The New York-based group said its report was based on telephone interviews with witnesses, civil society and others.

“The government of Burkina Faso strongly rejects and condemns such baseless accusations,” Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo said in a statement late on Saturday.

“The killings at Nodin and Soro led to the opening of a legal inquiry,” he said.

The minister expressed his surprise that “while this inquiry is under way to establish the facts and identify the authors, HRW has been able, with boundless imagination, to identify ‘the guilty’ and pronounce its verdict”.

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