"The government regrets and condemns the spread on social media of images inciting hatred and communal violence, and of false information aimed at undermining social cohesion and the peaceful coexistence of our country," government spokesperson Pingdwende Gilbert Ouedraogo wrote in a statement.
Earlier in the week, social media accounts had carried videos showing dozens of bloodied bodies strewn on the ground, with no apparent signs of life, their hands and feet bound. Most of them appeared to be women, children, and elderly people.
According to a local source contacted by AFP, "entire families" of ethnic Fulanis were killed in the Solenzo area between March 10 and 11 by soldiers and allied civilian militias.
The Fulani community is regularly stigmatised in the Sahel, accused of joining jihadist groups or of collaborating with them.
On Friday, Human Rights Watch called on the military leaders who seized power in Burkina Faso in September 2022 to investigate the killings.
It counted 58 bodies in the videos, but believes the death toll could be higher.
But the government spokesman insisted that jihadists had attacked positions of a local civilian militia, and that some hundred "terrorists" were killed in the ensuing gunfight.
He said the militia members later discovered civilians that the jihadists had sought to use as human shields, and had taken them to safety.
"This vast disinformation campaign follows the recent events in Solenzo, which were misrepresented to the utmost extent, to discredit our valiant fighters and frighten the peaceful population," he said.
Burkina Faso has been caught in a spiral of jihadist violence since 2015, which has left more than 26,000 dead, half of them since a military coup in 2022, according to Acled, which records victims of conflicts around the world.
Guinea ex-president says junta trying to suppress political parties
Conakry (AFP) Mar 15, 2025 -
Former Guinean President Alpha Conde, who was overthrown in a 2021 coup, said Saturday that the ruling junta was trying to "subjugate" the opposition after the military suspended his party.
The military government led by General Mamadi Doumbouya said Friday it was suspending 28 political parties for three months, including two of the country's leading formations: Conde's Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG) and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR) party of Sidya Toure, who like Conde is living abroad.
The military government claims these parties failed to meet their obligations to provide bank accounts or hold a congress over the past three months.
The military also dissolved 27 parties and placed four other political groups under observation.
It authorised 75 parties to continue political activities, including that of exiled opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, on the condition that they hold a congress within the next 45 days.
These decisions come amid a tense climate marked by the disappearance of several opposition leaders and severe restrictions on freedoms.
"The junta wants to silence you. It is trying to impose on you a choice that is not yours: that of submission and renunciation," Conde wrote in a social media post.
On Friday, a grouping of opposition parties said in a statement the junta wants to "weaken or even eliminate from the political scene the most representative parties in the country."
Guinea's military leaders initially pledged under international pressure to hand over power to elected civilians before the end of 2024, a promise it has not kept, though Doumbouya promised in his new year's address that 2025 will be "a crucial electoral year to return to the constitutional order."
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