Four people are missing in Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
following an armed ambush on an anti-poaching patrol on Monday. Local officials also said three other people were maimed in the attack.
WHAT DO WE KNOW SO FAR?
The missing included two Spanish citizens and an Irish national, along with a member of the Burkinabe armed forces. The three Europeans were reportedly working for a NGO dedicated to protecting the environment.
The attack occurred during the daytime in the Fada N'Gourma-Pama area in eastern Burkina Faso. In addition to the NGO workers, the patrol group also consisted of soldiers, forest rangers and foreign journalists.
No group has yet claimed responsiblity for the kidnapping. Authorities are conducting a search for the missing people.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the kidnapping, but the Irish Foreign Ministry said it "was aware of the reports and is liasing closely with international partners regarding the situation on the ground."
WHAT'S THE SECURITY SITUATION IN BURKINA FASO?
Burkina Faso faces a precarious security situation due to the presence of jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and the "Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
" (IS) in the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
. Burkina Faso, one of the world's poorest countries, borders Mali, which has faced an armed insurgency since 2012.
Armed groups frequently cross the mostly non-existent border between Mali and Burkina Faso to conduct raids, with Burkina Faso also serving as a hub for weapons trafficking. According to the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance, Burkina Faso's security forces are poorly equipped and lack the operational capacity to effectively keep the country safe from external threats.