While the Wagner Group’s future has been uncertain since leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a suspicious plane crash last year, its presence in Burkina Faso is part of the group’s new and more visible phase of influence, Osborn said. A pro-Russian association called the Africa Initiative has been established and is staffed with former Prigozhin employees, she said.Its goal, initiative president Soumaila Azenwo Ayo told AP, is promoting Russian and Burkina Faso culture and language, in part through its new radio program, “Russian Hour.”Africa is key to Russia politically and economically as it seeks allies amid its war in Ukraine. But Wagner mercenaries have been accused by rights groups and civilians of committing human rights atrocities in the countries where it operates, including the killing of 300 people at a Mali village in 2022. An increased Burkina Faso presence would bring fear of even more civilian deaths.The United States said it has cut and suspended assistance to Burkina Faso’s military but still supplies nonlethal equipment to civilian security forces such as the national police. In January, it delivered nearly 100 bikes and pickups.In a statement, the State Department said it has provided $16 million in “counterterrorism capacity building assistance” to Burkina Faso since 2022.“We are not aware of any diversion of misuse of recent equipment,” it said. “We take allegations seriously and will continue to monitor and evaluate use of our security assistance.”Some analysts said continued U.S. aid sends the wrong message.“Other countries around the world are seeing and watching and saying to themselves, ‘I can also jail all of my opponents, kill civilians under the guise of counterterrorism efforts and also play friendship with Russia, China — and the US will still give me all the toys I’ve asked for,’” said Aneliese Bernard, a former State Department official specializing in African affairs who runs a risk advisory group.Civilians in the middleDuring the Nov. 5 attack, men in military uniforms speaking French and local language Moore called for all men to leave their houses, a 45-year-old mother told AP.Peering through the window of the home where she hid, she said, she saw relatives being killed — more than 15 in all.She said she was spotted by a soldier, who motioned for her to lie down and stay silent. The men dressed, looked and sounded like the soldiers who regularly pass through the village inspecting people’s documents, she said.The third survivor who spoke to AP, a 55-year-old man from Zaongo, said villagers had been accused of working with the jihadis because they refused to join tens of thousands of volunteer fighters serving alongside Burkina Faso’s military.Recruiting is part of the junta’s strategy, but residents said this has only contributed to civilian killings as volunteers round up anyone they suspect of ties to the extremists. It also provokes jihadis to attack communities with volunteers, they said.Civilians are increasingly caught in the middle as violence intensifies. More than 2 million have been displaced and tens of thousands face severe hunger, according to the U.N. The insecurity makes it hard for aid groups to get assistance to those who need it.At least 74 civilians were killed in connection with a weekslong convoy carrying food and aid in December, according to ACLED. They were killed by both the military and jihadis, two aid workers told AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak about the matter. One worker said the jihadis accused the civilians of providing information to the convoy’s armed escort.An internal report for aid workers seen by AP said soldiers escorting the food supplies “fired on suspected accomplices” of jihadi-affiliated fighters.”We’re Frightened”Four months after the attack, survivors fear that bodies still lie on the ground rotting in Zaongo, now occupied by jihadis. Some relatives were able to return about a week after the deaths, but there were too many bodies and not enough time to bury them all, they said. They’ve been unable to get back since.It’s still unclear how many people were killed – reports from survivors, the U.N. and aid groups vary, from 70 to more than 200.Survivors are displaced in different parts of the country. They’re calling on the government to hold the killers accountable while living in fear that it could happen again.“We never thought that so many people could be killed at once,” said the surviving woman who spoke to AP.“When a door slams or a child shouts, we’re frightened. If we go back there, we’ll just die.”
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