Category: Lifestyle

Burkina Faso’s war against Islamist militants has seen security forces criticized for human rights abuses. Now, the battle to win hearts and minds has moved to a new stage, with soldiers using their singing talents to promote the armed forces.

Police Sergeant Yacouba Sourabié, known by his stage name “General Yack,” is one of 15 Burkinabe soldiers who sing about battlefield life, loss, and fighting the enemy.

In a cramped recording booth in Ouagadougou, Sourabié sings into a microphone about heading to war and leaving family and friends behind.

Singing soldiers, like Sourabié, hope their music videos will win public support in the war against Islamist militants and put the military in a better light.

He says, the song is dedicated to our soldiers, our defense and security forces, who are on the frontlines and even those who have lost their lives. He says, we have dedicated this song to our soldiers, to make them understand that they are our heroes, they are valiant men of the nation, and for their families to be encouraged because families have lost their brothers and men on the frontline.

Burkinabé director San RemyTraoré was motivated to make music videos with security forces because his brother is a policeman.

He also wants to encourage greater confidence in the military.

He says, the first priority is to show the force of the soldiers on the terrain in this battle. But it’s also to assure the population so they understand they can count on the people on the battlefield, who are there to defend the national cause.

But critics say security forces should focus less on promoting fighting and more on respecting civilians’ rights.

The Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities (CISC) documents abuses committed by the armed forces, like the alleged killing of 180 civilians around the northern city of Djibo documented by Human Rights Watch. The government said it would investigate the incident more than a year ago.

Daouda Diallo of CISC acknowledges that soldiers have faced heavy losses in their battle against militants.

And this kind of music can boost the morale of the troops, he says. But on the other hand, he adds, one must also consider human rights and the respect for social cohesion between the community and all Burkinabé citizens.

For gendarme duo LaCrew, their latest song, The Patriot, is about all of society fighting terrorism.

“We invite all our brothers in arms,” says LaCrew. “All the population to come to together, to be strong to overcome this evil. It’s a song of encouragement that puts adrenaline in the blood of one and all to claim victory against this evil.”

The final refrain of the song is, “we will not move, we are here.”

And it seems Burkina Faso’s soldier singers are here to stay.

Source: Voice of America

Conflict between Cameroonians and local wildlife has led to street protests Saturday in the western village of Bakingili. Farmers and villagers say elephants are destroying their plantations and scores of houses, reportedly leading to the killing of two elephants this month. Authorities blame locals for occupying elephant habitats and caution against killing the endangered animals.

More than 200 villagers marched, demanding help in Bakingilli, a farming village in Cameroon’s English-speaking South-West region.

The villagers say elephants have destroyed more than 250 banana, plantain, corn and bean plantations. They say several dozen homes also have been destroyed by elephants in the past two months.

Vincent Njie, who says he is the spokesperson for the villagers, said Saturday’s protest is the third in two months. Njie said villagers do not understand why the government is reluctant to help kill or chase the animals out of Bakingili.

“The elephants come out even at daytime, scaring even school children. The principals (teachers) are even afraid to go to school because they think that if they go there they will meet elephants. Elephants should be evicted so that we continue our normal lives. Most of the people living in Bakinggili rely on farming. Please, we need help,” Nije said.

Bakingili lies at the foot of Mount Cameroon, known locally as Mount Fako. In 2009, Cameroon’s government created the 58,000-hectare Mount Cameroon National Park to protect biodiversity.

The government said that between 2009 to 2019, the elephant population in the park increased from less than 170 to about 300.

Delphine Ikome, the highest-ranking government wildlife official in Cameroon’s South-West region, says most of the forest where elephants live has been turned into plantations and villages, provoking conflicts between the gigantic animals and humans.

“These elephants that we are protecting have become a threat to the community around this protected area, the Mount Cameroon National Park. We have come here to appeal to the population of Bakingili, to tell them to conserve our protected areas to improve the livelihoods of our local communities,” Ikome said.

She said elephants are critically endangered because of habitat loss and fragmentation. She said elephants roam over long distances and play a key role in spreading tree seedlings to balance natural ecosystems and reduce climate change.

The villagers said they killed two elephants in the park this month. Wildlife officials have yet to confirm the deaths.

A conservation group, The Last Great Ape, or LAGA, has been protecting elephants in Cameroon. The group’s vice president, Eric Kabah Tah, says the government has a responsibility to protect both its citizens and its wildlife.

“The government should learn lessons from other areas where such conflicts have been successfully resolved through the use of some conservation methods to send away the animals and ensure that both parties live in peace. Certain sounds are played in such a way that it could scare off the wildlife. But there should be long-term solutions such that humans should be able to understand where the limits of their area is so that they don’t encroach into wildlife habitat to avoid such conflicts,” Tah said.

Cameroon has an estimated 6,500 elephants. Conservation groups such as LAGA say the country still has one of the largest elephant populations left in Africa.

Source: Voice of America