BURKINA FASO – Medical-aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – Doctor without borders – has suspended operations in Burkina Faso while it carries out a risk assessment following the killing of two staff members in the West African.
MSF said that for an indefinite period it will only respond to life-saving emergencies in all areas where it provides medical and humanitarian support in Burkina Faso.
“This measure, necessary for the time of mourning, is essential to analyse the risks to which our teams are currently exposed,” the group said in a statement.
The group has over 1,000 staff in Burkina Faso and operates in around a dozen localities across the country.
MSF had initially suspended operations in the area of northwest Burkina Faso where armed assailants killed the two employees. The aid group said the employees had been travelling in a clearly marked MSF vehicle during their medical work.
Burkina Faso is one of several West African countries grappling with violent jihadist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Two weeks ago, MSF s suspended its operations in an area of northwest Burkina Faso where armed assailants killed two of its employees.
Gunmen opened fire on an MSF-branded vehicle transporting four staff members between the towns of Dedougou and Tougan, in an administrative region named “Boucle de Mouhoun” in Sourou province.
Two Burkina Faso nationals – the driver and a logistics supervisor aged 39 and 34 respectively – were killed, MSF said in a statement.
MSF suspended its activities in the Boucle de Mouhoun while it seeks more clarity on the circumstances of the attack, the statement added.
MSF was providing health services to thousands of displaced civilians in the Boucle du Mouhoun. It warned in August that the number of people fleeing attacks and seeking shelter in the area was rising rapidly.
Burkina Faso is one of several West African countries grappling with violent jihadist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The insurgency blighting the Sahel region south of the Sahara took root after a Tuareg rebellion in Mali in 2012.
Despite costly international efforts to contain it, the insurgency has spread to neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso and more recently to coastal states, killing thousands and uprooting over 2 million in the process.
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