Volunteer Fighters in Burkina Faso Living in Fear

Hundreds of civilians in towns and villages across extremist-hit parts of Burkina Faso have signed up to protect their communities and combat jihadist groups, since a new law - known as the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland Act - passed through parliament in January 2020. The plan to recruit volunteers was announced last November after 37 civilians were killed in a jihadist attack on workers at a Canadian gold mining company east of the country. Months into the programme, volunteers who were supposed to receive weapons and two weeks of training from the government told Sam Mednick of The New Humanitarian that they were ill-equipped and often too afraid to fight the better-armed and battle-hardened militants.