The following update and prayer request was sent by Siaka Traoré to Tany Warkentin of Mennonite Church Canada on August 30. Traoré is the Mennonite World Conference regional representative for Central and West Africa as well as a long-time church leader in Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso is going through a dark period in this second half of August. Indeed, on August 24, while the population of the village of Barsalogho, located about 150 km from the capital city of Ouagadougou, was carrying out collective work, they were attacked by terrorist assailants. More than 100 civilians and soldiers were killed. There were also about 150 injured.
The next day, Sunday August 25, while the country mourned its dead, another attack took place in a village called Kounla in the northwest of the country. This massacre was perpetrated in a church. The terrorists, after ordering the women and children to leave the church, executed the 26 men.
The pastor of this church, who studied with one of our pastors at the Maranatha Institute in Bobo-Dioulasso, was killed.
These cruel acts have a very deep traumatic effect on women, children and many others. Let us pray for the healing of trauma.
Siaka Traoré, a church leader in Burkina Faso. MWC photo by Christian Argha Aditya.
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