Burkina Faso: “As a pastor, my heart bleeds”
In only a decade, Burkina Faso has become an epicentre of terrorist violence, with over 40% of the country’s territory outside of government control. The Catholic Church is one of the institutions that provides material and spiritual support in this situation. Two Burkinabe priests from one of the dioceses that has been hardest hit by the extremists over the past years shared their terrible experiences and first-hand testimony of the violence with ACN.
“The situation is dire,” said Fr Bertin Namboho and Fr Jean-Pierre Keita, respectively the bursar of the Diocese of Nouna and parish priest of the village of Tansila, on the border with Mali, during a recent press conference organised by the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
“We live in constant terror, and everyone knows somebody who has been kidnapped or murdered. The terrorists in Burkina Faso are as dangerous as Boko Haram was in Nigeria. When you leave in the morning, you can’t be sure you will be alive by evening,” said Fr Bertin, who explained that he has been stopped three times by terrorists on the road and that one of his uncles was murdered last year.
At the end of 2022, when Fr Jean-Pierre was appointed parish priest in Tansila, a parish that has been hard-hit by terrorist attacks, people warned him that he was putting himself in danger. “But my biggest concern at the time was not the danger I was in, but how I was going to be able to carry out my pastoral mission properly,” he says.
At the end of May, 2023, just one month after the murder of his brother, he was abducted by terrorists. “When they took me into the forest, they searched my bag and found priestly objects such as an alb, a stole and sacred vessels. I didn’t lie about being a priest. Despite the threat, I explained to them the meaning of each of these objects. They released me after a few hours.”
A total of eight attacks have taken place in the area of Fr Jean-Pierre’s parish in the past five months alone. Recently, on 15 April 2024, the community of Tansila was ordered by a large number of terrorists to leave the town by 19:00. They didn’t have time to collect their things, and their possessions were looted, including the presbytery, church, altar, tabernacle and all religious symbols. Even the parish’s equipment and financial assets were looted and its premises ransacked.
“I have one memory that will never fade: the terrorists broke into the clinic and removed the patients’ IV tubes, including from a baby who I was about to baptise. They removed his tubes, and he died. As a pastor of souls, going through a situation like this just makes your heart bleed,” the priest explains.
Two days after the attack, the army secured the area and the population was asked to return. “When I saw the damage and the Church destroyed, I burst into tears,” says Fr Jean-Pierre. “I understood the suffering of the people of Israel when the Temple was destroyed. You get the feeling of having lost your religious identity, your dignity. And in the midst of this we ask ourselves: Where is our God?”
Since the attack, soldiers have remained in Tansila to protect the inhabitants who returned, but that has not stopped the terrorists from attacking other communities in Fr Jean-Pierre’s parish. “As the pastor of a parish that has suffered such a terrible attack, when I speak to these Christians, I act strong, to encourage them, but when I am alone, I cry. It is very difficult.” Before the April 15 attack, on Christmas Eve 2023, the inhabitants of six villages in the parish were forced out of their homes. “That was a very dark Christmas. They did the usual, they looted everything and what they didn’t need, they burned, to starve the people.”
During the press conference, Fr Bertin said that Nouna was under blockade by extremists between 2022 and 2024, without electricity, and with no supplies besides those permitted by military convoys. Due to this situation, and being the bursar of the diocese, he had to leave town occasionally to visit the bank in Dedougou, and several times he was intercepted by the extremists. “Getting pulled over by five or six terrorists with guns is frightening. They asked me several questions, and what my job was. You can never tell what they will do if they discover you are a priest, but I could not lie.”
The priest explained how on 25 December the city of Nouna and three local parishes were attacked. “The civilian population always suffers with terrorist attacks. But when they vandalise churches and parish houses, and they don’t let you ring the bells for mass, you have to ask yourself what the motivation behind their actions is.”
The schools in the vicinity of Nouna have been closed for over two years, and Fr Jean-Pierre is pessimistic about school beginning this year in Tansila. “Following the destruction of the schools, it seems to me very difficult to organize a new school year with adequate conditions.” Furthermore, Fr Bertin explained that many children cannot afford to pay for the few schools that are still open, due to the poverty and hunger caused by the terrorism.
Even though the future looks bleak – the priests both say that the number of terrorists is not diminishing – the Burkinabe remain very close to God and vocations are flourishing. “Even though it is dangerous to gather to pray, people continue to meet and live their faith. We had two new priests ordained in the diocese in July,” Fr Bertin said. Fr Jean-Pierre agreed, saying: “We have hope, because amidst all the attacks, people have kept their faith. We believe in a better future, in a world at peace. We believe in the Prince of Peace.”
And he adds: “We are grateful to all the people who have been moved by this desperate situation we are experiencing, and who are helping us however they can. Thank you ACN, because you do not only help us with material goods, but also with prayer. It is very important to know that we are not alone. We appeal to all people of goodwill who are working for peace not to become accomplices in the worsening terrorism in Burkina Faso: We are all brothers on this earth! Every day, we pray for the victims, for the conversion of our own hearts and for the conversion of our attackers”.
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