Burkina Faso machete video prompts investigation

Back in July, videos appeared on social media showing suspected soldiers and volunteers mutilating dead bodies, which Burkina Faso’s army publicly condemned.

The county’s armed forces have been accused of atrocities and extrajudicial killings.

According to Human Rights Watch, the military massacred more than 220 civilians – including at least 56 children – in a single day earlier this year.

The authorities did not comment on that report.

This latest video has provoked outrage, prompting Burkina Faso’s military general staff to insist it has the nation’s best interests at heart.

In its statement on Sunday, it said: “All operations to reconquer the national territory are conducted with the greatest respect for human rights.”

Burkina Faso is in West Africa’s Sahel region, which is considered the new global epicentre of the Islamic State group and is also home to numerous others jihadist groups.

A large deployment of Russian troops arrived in the country in January in a sign of deepening ties, a year after French troops fighting insurgents were kicked out of the country.

The junta-led Sahelian nations of Burkina, Mali and Niger have all turned to Russia for support in recent years in deals that have failed to improve security and in some cases resulted in atrocities against civilians.

At the weekend, Burkina Faso’s foreign minister praised Russia and said it was a more suitable partner than the former colonial power France.

As power and influence slips away from the Sahel nations’ traditional Western allies, the European Union’s envoy to the region has vowed: “We have to continue to stay by their side.

“There is a reconfiguration of the region which has an impact on all of western Africa and the rest of Africa.”