Ethnic violence that left 25 people injured has prompted Burkina Faso to impose a curfew from 7pm to 5am.
|||Ouagadougou - An outbreak of ethnic violence left two people dead and 25 injured in Burkina Faso's Solenzo region, prompting authorities to impose a nightime curfew, officials said on Wednesday.
The violence between the indigenous Bwaba and migrant Mossi ethnic groups broke out after a traditional initiation ceremony on Monday night, local governor Siaka Prosper Traore told reporters from Solenzo in north-east Burkina Faso.
A Mossi policeman crossed the path of a procession of masked Bwaba taking part in the initiation rite, considered an affront by the latter ethnic group who “whipped” the offending officer, Traore explained.
The Bwaba later set fire to the local police station while the Mossi claimed the policeman was attacked because of his ethnicity.
On Tuesday, clashes broke out between the two communities in which two Bwaba died and 25 were injured.
Traore said calm had returned and a curfew had been put in place from 7pm to 5am.
“We fear acts of vengeance from the indigenous group but we are doing everything to keep the calm,” he said, adding land disputes were at the heart of the problem in the fertile region.
Traore said cohabitation “has been difficult for a while because the migrant Mossi (from the centre of the country) accuse the natives of refusing them land and removing them from land they were exploiting”.
Security Minister Jerome Bougouma said security would be reinforced in Solenzo. - Sapa-AFP
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/burkina-faso-sets-curfew-after-clashes-1.1070744
Canada Russell Brand Twilight Energy efficiency Northern Ireland London
No comments:
Post a Comment