By Ebi Kesiena
Jihadist-hit Burkina Faso is offering a reward of up to $300,000 for information leading to the capture or death of figures on a “terrorist” wanted list.
The security services published the mugshots of 20 “actively sought terrorists,” offering a bounty for each of them.
At the top of the list are Sidibe Dramane, 45, alias Hamza, and Diallo Moussa, 40, alias Abou Ganiou.
They each carry a reward of 180 million CFA francs ($300,000).
Dramane is a reputed associate of Amadou Koufa, a Malian who is a leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM).
Other prominent jihadists are Dicko Hamadoun, alias Suu-ka Malde, and Bolly Oumarou, alias Oumi, who each carry a reward of 175 million CFA francs.
One of the poorest and most troubled countries in the world, Burkina is struggling with a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
According to official estimates, around a third of the country lies outside the government’s control.
More than 10,000 civilians, troops and police have died, according to an NGO count, while at least two million people have been displaced.
Anger within the military at failures to roll back the insurgency sparked two coups last year.
The current junta leader is Ibrahim Traore, an army captain who took the helm last September at the age of 34.
All of those on the newly-published wanted list were born in Burkina, mainly in the north of the country, except for Sita Housseini, a 33-year-old native of Niger.
