A prefect who was kidnapped by gunmen has been found dead in a forest in western Burkina Faso, an area troubled by jihadist violence, according to local sources and security officials on Wednesday. The Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralisation and Security released a statement confirming the death of Kaboré Amadou, the prefect and “president of the special delegation of Tchériba” in the Boucle du Mouhon region on 8 May.
The statement did not specify the circumstances of Kaboré’s death, but local sources reported that he was travelling with a colleague and his driver from the regional capital Dédougou to Tchériba, where he was acting as mayor when they were stopped by armed men on the road near the town of Karo. His colleague and driver managed to escape, but Kaboré did not.
Security forces conducted a search and found Kaboré’s body in the Karo forest, which is about 20 km from Dédougou. However, the security sources did not provide details on how he died. Mr Kaboré’s burial was scheduled for Wednesday in Tanghin-Dassouri.
In mid-April, the army launched an anti-jihadist operation in the region called Kapidugu, which mobilised over 800 soldiers and volunteers, including civilian auxiliaries of the army known as VDP, for the defence of the country.
Burkina Faso has been plagued by jihadist violence since 2015, which began in Mali and Niger and has spread beyond their borders. The country has been the scene of two military coups in 2022, and the violence has left over 10,000 civilians and soldiers dead in the past eight years, with about two million people displaced internally.