from ISSOUF TRAORE in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
OUAGADOUGOU, (CAJ News) – THOUSANDS, mostly children, in northern Burkina Faso have been left without access to health services after armed men burnt down a health care centre.
The burning down of the centre by militants targeting a police station in the town of Foube is the latest in a string of incidents highlighting escalating terror in the West African country.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ran the centre, which is a few hundred metres away from the police post.
An injured member of the MSF team and other wounded patients have been evacuated to Ouagadougou, the capital city.
“We are shocked by this news and alarmed by this situation in the Centre-North region of Burkina Faso, as in other parts of the country,” said Mamadou Diarra, head of mission for MSF in Burkina Faso.
“The health post is now completely destroyed and can no longer treat patients,” he added.
“The violence continues to increase daily in Burkina Faso, trapping the Burkinabé people a little more each day, which is unacceptable,” Diarra said.
This year, MSF carried out more than 19 700 consultations at this centre, built in 2019.
Over a third were for children under the age of five.
MSF has been working in Burkina Faso since 1995.
The landlocked country has suffered upheaval since independence in 1960.
The administration of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, in power since 2015, is battling insurgency by Islamist groups.
– CAJ News