Over the last few years, we’ve told you about extremist attacks on Christians in Burkina Faso. We’ve shared specific stories about believers who were targeted and killed because they refused to renounce their faith in Christ.
But there is another story you don’t always see—the survivors who are left in these areas and the desperate decision to leave their homeland because extremists have taken control.
Since 2016, the West African nation of Burkina Faso, specifically Africa’s Sahel region, has experienced an alarming escalation of violence from jihadist militants. At the beginning of the crisis, the Burkinabe government lost control of territories in the north and northeast to jihadist groups, coming from neighboring Mali. These groups continue to move between borders for their attacks and operations. Christians have suffered targeted attacks, causing survivors to flee in droves to centers further south.
See why Burkina Faso in No. 32 on Open Doors’ World Watch List.
Today, they are living in refugee camps where supplies are low and survival is not a given.
In these camps, Christians have struggled to provide for their families, and their circumstances have been greatly complicated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
