“The perpetrators of the horrific attack in Ouagadougou on Friday night which deliberately killed and injured dozens of people from many nationalities and religions, show an utter disregard for fundamental principles of humanity”, Alioune Tine, Amnesty International West Africa director, said.
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Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming its fighters broke into the hotel’s restaurant.
French special forces joined local troops to secure the area and rescue the hostages.
Burkina Faso was better known for the role its president and officials played in mediating hostage releases when jihadists would seize foreigners for ransom in places like Niger or Mali.
A total of 29 people were killed in the attack on the hotel and a nearby restaurant, including six Canadians, two French and two Swiss nationals as well as an American.
Survivors described how the militants were targeting foreign “white people” during the siege with one woman saying: “They kept coming back and forth into Cappuccino”. One U.S. military member was embedded with French forces at the scene, and the United States was working to help provide France with surveillance and reconnaissance help, according to a U.S. senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
They built the 120-bed Friends of Burkina Faso medical clinic from scratch and have run it ever since. The militant group said the attack had been carried out as a declaration of unity with Al-Mourabitoun, an Algerian group led by militant Moktar Belmoktar. The interim Libyan government reported last June that an American airstrike had killed Belmokhtar.
Until Friday’s attack, Burkina Faso, an ally of Western governments against jihadist groups in the arid reaches of the southern Sahara, had largely been spared the violence that has plagued its neighbours.
While many in Burkina Faso and across the region were shocked by the raid, there have been indications that the security situation in the majority Muslim but religiously diverse nation was deteriorating.
Kabore, the nation’s former prime minister, won more than 53% of votes in that election.
The West, particularly France, considers Burkina Faso a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda.
French President Francois Hollande stated he supports on the country against the “Odious and cowardly attack”.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry “strongly and vehemently” condemned the attack.
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Dr Ken Elliot and his wife Jocelyn have been running a hospital called Centre Medico-Chirurgicale de Djibo, close to Burkina Faso’s border with Mali.
