SUMMARY

The non-state conflict between the islamist armed group JNIM and the community-based self-defense force, the Koglweogo, was played out in Burkina Faso, in the context of the state-based conflict against the government that the former was engaged in. Burkina Faso, as many other countries in the Sahel region, saw increasing jihadist violence during the second decade of the 2000s. These conflicts exacerbated ethnic tensions, and fueled inter-communal clashes in the region, since the parties to the conflicts were associated with different ethnic groups. In general, JNIM, as well as the other main islamist group in the area, ISGS, had their main support base among the Fulani ethnic group. The Koglweogo for its part, was mainly associated with the Mossi ethnic group. As the civilian population in the conflict zone were more or less left to their own devises security-wise, the JNIM mobilized in their defense when JNIM targeted Mossi villages.

The fighting between the two groups was sporadic and with low intensity. Oftentimes JNIM would enter a village and deliberately pinpoint Koglweogo members and assassinate them. In one instance in 2019, JNIM kidnapped a Koglweogo leader and tried to force him to lead them to other Koglweogo members in villages nearby. Furthermore, the violence between the two groups was often characterized by tit-for-tat attacks. Reprisal attacks were common, Koglweogo would target Fulani civilians, accusing them of being members, or providing support to, JNIM. JNIM would then target Koglweogo or civilians close to the Koglweogo such as family members or affiliated ethnic groups (for more information see Koglweogo-Civilians and JNIM-Civilians).

The non-state conflict between JNIM and Koglweogo was first included in UCDP data in 2019. In December of that year, clashes between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.