Christians make up about 30% of Burkina Faso’s population, yet also like the persecution of Christians in neighboring countries, their persecution is escalating. Read about Greek Orthodoxy in Burkina Faso here.
“Christians persecuted in Burkina Faso: desperate situation following escalation of violence,” by Amy Balog, Zenit News, September 10, 2024:
(ZENIT News / Burkina Faso, 09.10.2024).- Priest [sic] from Burkina Faso have given heart-rending testimony about the suffering in their communities after hundreds of people were massacred in the conflict-ridden country. Extremist groups controlling around 40 percent of Burkina Faso’s territory now are as dangerous as Boko Haram was in Nigeria, according to Father Bertin Namboho, bursar of Nouna Diocese, western Burkina Faso. Speaking with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Father Namboho said that people in the diocese “live in constant terror”. Terrorists have massacred up to 240 people – around 100 of them Christian – and kidnapped many more in Burkina Faso since May. Father Namboho said that, as the city of Nouna has been under an insurgent blockade for the past two years, he had been stopped by terrorists “several times” as he travelled on Church business. He said: “You can never tell what they will do if they discover you are a priest, but I could not lie.” Father Jean-Pierre Keita, parish priest of Tansila, Banwa Province, was abducted “at gunpoint” by militants last year. Father Keita said: “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 and around his parish in the past five months alone. He said that 200 extremists stormed Tansila on 15th April, “looted everything” and ordered everyone to leave by 7pm the same day….
