Burkina Faso’s army chaplains tested by extremist conflict

In the more than 15 years Salomon Tibiri has been offering spiritual succor as a military pastor in Burkina Faso, he’s never fielded so many calls from anxious soldiers and their relatives as in recent years, when the army found itself under attack by Islamic extremist fighters.
“Before the crisis there was more stability,”
Tibiri said, seated in a military camp church in the city of Kaya, in the
hard-hit Center-North region. “Now (the soldiers) are busier, and when you
approach them you feel their stress — much more stress.”
Once considered a beacon of peace
and religious coexistence in the region, the West African nation has been
embroiled in unprecedented violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State
since 2016, throwing an ill-equipped and undertrained army into disarray — and
overwhelming the chaplains tasked with supporting them.
In interviews in the Center-North
and in Ouagadougou, the capital, military chaplains told The Associated Press
that they are stretched thin by the unprecedented conflict and what assistance
they are able to provide through phone calls and prayer services is
insufficient.
Just seven chaplains, hailing from
Protestant, Catholic and Muslim faiths, are charged with spiritually advising
some 11,000 soldiers and helping maintain their morale. The army has not
devoted what little resources it has for them to embed with units, and they say
the distance only makes it harder to keep soldiers motivated.
The troops “face death every day.
... At this moment they also need to have much more spiritual help,” said Noel
Henri Zongo, a chaplain and Catholic priest.
It’s crucial work as experts say
the psychological effects of conflict like what’s occurring in Burkina Faso can
be particularly tough on soldiers who are experiencing it in their country for
the first time. It can put them at greater risk for post-traumatic stress
disorder and also increase the likelihood of them acting in ways contrary to
their moral values.
Last year 524 civilians were
killed by soldiers and local defense militias fighting alongside them,
according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, more than
the 432 killed by the extremists. At least 180 bodies were found in mass graves
near the government-controlled town of Djibo, with evidence of army involvement
in large-scale executions according to Human Rights Watch.
Etienne Bonkoungou, another of the
chaplains, said he regularly counsels troops grappling with the question of
whether their participation in the fight makes them defenders or killers.
“The Bible says not to kill, so as a soldier
these questions often arise,” Bonkoungou said. “To kill another, to watch a
colleague die (or kill someone yourself), should you kill? Should you not kill?”
To help them reconcile that
dilemma, he uses biblical examples of devout people fighting in wars, and
advises that “even sometimes God himself orders killing.”
Soldier Luc Yelkouni acknowledged
that the conflict “impacts our morale.”
A 29-year-old veteran of nearly a
decade with the military, he had never before suffered the kind of trauma as in
recent years, with one colleague after another killed by the extremists. After
a stint in the Sahel, he turned to a military priest for help dealing with an
experience from his deployment that was so traumatic he said he didn’t want to
go into details, even three years later.
Speaking to the priest was
reassuring, Yelkouni said.
The chaplains “play a key role for
us,” he said, “and the collaboration is really good.”
While the chaplains did not say
what they think the army should do, one said it would be helpful if there were
four or five more of them. And they wish they could be physically closer to
those deployed for dangerous duty.
“The role of a chaplain is to be present where
the men are,” Zongo said, “and what he needs to bring is the necessary capacity
to face danger and to get up after failure.”
The army, whose communications
team facilitated the chaplain interviews and sat in on them, did not respond to
a request for comment.
But last year, in an
acknowledgment that its clergy needed help, it brought in U.S. military
chaplains to train their counterparts.
Maj. Mike Smith, lead chaplain
with U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, said the Burkina Faso chaplains
had never been trained in tasks like caring for the wounded, counseling
families, mourning the dead and motivating fighters.
“(The army was) seeing casualties on a
regular basis, whether soldiers were being killed in attacks or wounded in
attacks,” Smith said. “And ... it was tearing at the resiliency of their force,
just as a whole, and it even impacted their retention.”
With the coronavirus pandemic also
affecting operations, the U.S. supplied the Burkina Faso chaplains with iPads
that they used to record sermons and broadcast them to the front lines through
messaging apps.
How much they are able to lift
spirits can have real consequences, with experts saying low morale in the ranks
is impacting Burkina Faso’s counter-terrorism strategy.
Héni Nsaibia, an analyst with the
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project who specializes in the Sahel
region that has been the epicenter of the violence, said it appears that
volunteer militias have essentially “replaced” the army on the front lines as
soldiers prefer to stay in their barracks.
A decision last month to conduct
airstrikes and use special forces rather than launch a ground offensive after a
deadly ambush in the eastern part of the country is also a likely indication of
greater reluctance among regular troops, he added.
Despite the limited resources,
soldiers said the chaplains have been a lifeline.
Yempabou Kobori, 30, said one
thing that keeps him going is a Bible verse his pastor shared from him from the
Book of Psalms, about staying safe even as thousands around you fall. He
recites it before battle.
“It reminds me that I am not
alone,” Kobori said.