Caught off guard: Kidnapping in Burkina Faso

On 4 April 2015, Iulian Gherghut, a Romanian national who was employed as a security guard at a foreign-owned manganese mining operation in northern Burkina Faso, was kidnapped by five gunmen. Two other employees were injured during the attack, which occurred in Oudalan province, before the assailants drove north towards the border with Mali. Al Mourabitoun, a Sahel-based Islamist militant group, has since claimed responsibility for the attack and has called on the Romanian government to enter into negotiations over an undisclosed ransom to secure the security guard’s release. In light of the political vacuum that has emerged in Burkina Faso following the ousting of long-serving leader Blaise Compaoré, in October 2014, the kidnapping has raised concerns over insecurity in the north of Burkina Faso. At the centre of these security concerns is the still undetermined future of the presidential guard, the Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle (RSP), the specialised force tasked with securing Gherghut’s release. 

The RSP has been widely regarded as a tool for repression, particularly under former President Compaoré. However, with the country now headed up by an interim government, comprising both civilian and military representatives, the role of the military, and specifically that of the RSP, remains doubtful and has proven to be an incendiary factor in Burkina Faso’s transition. Under the new government, the RSP has been unable to shake off its reputation, resulting in widespread calls for it to be disbanded. As a result of public pressure, former Military General and current Prime Minister, Isaac Yacouba Zida, has already dismissed Gilbert Diendéré, head of the RSP and Zida’s former boss. Although Zida has reiterated that he does not seek to disband the unit, the future of the RSP, including its counter-terrorism unit, remains uncertain as civil society groups continue to call for the redistribution of RSP troops.  

This latest kidnapping may offer the RSP a unique opportunity to transform itself however, allowing it to move away from political duties in Ouagadougou to defending Burkina Faso’s vulnerable border with Mali and Niger. Yet, while security sector reforms are on the top of the transitional government’s agenda, with presidential elections slated for October 2015, there are a number of additional challenges.  

Like all government reforms, the rebranding of Burkina Faso’s security forces will ultimately take time to implement. In the interim, the RSP will need to successfully locate Gherghut in order to reassure Burkina Faso’s population of its purpose; but the 1,400 strong unit has a tough task ahead.  

While this is the first high-profile kidnapping in Burkina Faso, kidnapping in the wider Sahel is a well-established revenue generator for transnational militant groups. Various groups, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Al Mourabitoun and Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), garnered approximately USD 75 million in revenue from ransoms in the Sahel between 2003 and 2015. These groups have been able to capitalise on political and security vulnerabilities across the region, including weak central authorities, porous borders and a geographical environment conducive to sustaining an insurgency. Furthermore, as evident in the rise of AQIM in Mali since the 2012 Tuareg rebellion, these transnational militant groups take advantage of an unstable domestic environment within Sahel states to further their own agendas.  

For Burkina Faso, the reality is that cross-border criminality is not new within its northern regions. However, the recent ousting of President Compaoré, which resulted in a directionless RSP, has made outlying parts of the country more susceptible to such transnational activity. Burkina Faso will ultimately need to do more to secure these areas and the RSP may prove to be a requisite part of the solution. Yet the RSP is plagued by accusations of abuse of power and the alleged killing of protesters during the October 2014 uprising. Furthermore, in defiance of various calls on government to disband the force earlier this year, the RSP took to the street demanding Zida’s resignation in February, reinforcing the widely held perception that the unit is a somewhat volatile force. As civil society continues to reject the RSP and the unit seems hesitant to change, a quick and successful resolution to the latest kidnapping will help the RSP shake off its former reputation. The RSP needs to transform its role within Burkina Faso with a focus on counter-terrorism and counter-kidnapping abilities in order to for it to have a future in the country, particularly as a new administration takes office at the end of 2015.