Benin Recruits More Soldiers To Fight Jihadists At Burkina Faso Border

The government of Benin is recruiting a further 5,000 soldiers , following a rise in militant attacks on its northern border with burkina faso.

The new recruits will be required to know at least one of the languages spoken in the region, and will be given six months of training.

Jihadists are present in the vast park w, a protected area of forest stretching across the borders of benin, burkina faso and niger.

They’ve been using the reserve to launch attacks and infiltrate communities.

Islamists militants have displaced millions across west africa’s sahel region, and their attacks have claimed the lives of tens of thousands.

The recruitment of young male soldiers will extend from February 28 to March 7, and

enlistees must have been born between January 1, 1988, and December 31, 2003, the minister said.

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Of Burkina Faso’s 13 regions, those that are hotspots for violence will have higher quotas for recruitment.

including the western Boucle du Mouhoun region and the Sahel in the north.

This is the third time in less than a year that the Burkinabe army has organised such a drive.

In April 2022, 3,000 soldiers were recruited, with the process launched again in October.

Burkina Faso has been rocked by two coups since the start of the year, with each new leader accusing the previous of having failed to quell the violence.

In seven years, more than 1,000 civilians and soldiers have been killed, according to NGOs, and some two million people internally displaced.

Captain Ibrahim Traore — the country’s transitional president, who staged the most recent coup on September 30 —

has set a goal of recapturing 40 percent of Burkina Faso’s territory, which is controlled by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Shortly after seizing power, he launched a campaign to recruit so-called civilian defence volunteers.