Some Ganai joins the fight against the military

Three Ganays have told the BBC about their participation in the fighting between Islamist rebels and the military in the neighboring Burkina Faso, describing scenes of sometimes indiscriminate violence and bloody battles.

“We are always with the dead. In some battles I have seen 40, 50 or 100 dead,” one of the men told the BBC.

The three, all in the late thirties or early forties, said they had fought in Burkina Faso repeatedly from 2018. They crossed the porous border with a length of 550 km (340 miles) between the two sides, without being found by the forces for the forces Security.

They denied being motivated mainly by religion or trained by jihadists, saying that they were going to fight for the protection of civil communities with whom they had strong family and ethnic ties.

“My bigger brother, his wife and children were killed by the army (Burkinabe). It hurts me a lot. The military came to their community in the forest. They killed all of them, a whole household, including 29 people,” one of the men said.

But another male articulates religious diligence, saying, “If you die while fighting with the jihadists, then you drive to Jana (Islamic word for paradise), along the path of the righteous.”

Congratulated whether they participated in civil attacks, the men were separated.

One denied doing it, but another admitted that he had done it.

“Some locals support the military by attacking us, so we must kill them,” he said.

“You know … I'm not glad to fight like that. The number of people we kill, the people we kill is very bad. But this battle entered our blood,” he added.

All three spoke on condition of anonymity.

The BBC failed to confirm its allegations, but showed us weapons, described the location of the latest conflicts, and pointed out the jihadist commanders in Burkina Faso.

The BBC was related to men through contacts in the cattle markets in North Ghana, where it is claimed that jihadist groups are recruiting fighters.

In 2022, a non -governmental organization based on France, Promediation, said his studies show that the jihadists hired between 200 and 300 young Ghanaks.

And the Dutch Institute for International Relations with Brain TrustIn a report published last JulyThey said that the jihadists had a “minimal success” in Ghana.

However, the men have offered a different perspective, telling the BBC, in claims that cannot be verified, that people from “all parts of Ghana” and “many” ethnic groups join the rebels in Burkina Faso.

“Some are fighting for jihad. Some do it for business,” one of them said.

The financial stimulus comes in the form of the abundant livestock that jihadists steal from communities expelled from their villages.

“When we attack a community, we accept their animals: sometimes 50, sometimes 100,” he told one of the men.

It is alleged that the livestock is kept in North Ghana and sold in markets.

Traffic across the border was confirmed to the BBC by livestock dealers.

It is believed to have become a major flow of income for groups such as Jama'at Nusrat Ul-Islam wa al-muslimin (JNIM), a branch of Al Qaeda, which is the most active jihadist group in Burkina Faso. He also works in Niger and Mali.

The West African region was described by the UN last year as the epicenter of the global violence of jihadists.

Aid agencies say that In the last decade, about two million people have been displaced by the uprising In Burkina Faso and tens of thousands of killed.

Ninpoa Nasuri is one of the thousands who escaped to Ghana to escape from violence.

She told the BBC that her husband was killed before her in 2024 during an attack on their village in the eastern part of Burkina Faso by JNIM fighters.

“They grabbed the men and beat them to death. My husband was a farmer. He had nothing to do with the government police or the conflict,” she told the BBC.

Other refugees described similar acts of violence from military Burkinabe.

“Some of the people who killed were 80 years old, 90 years old. These people cannot hold a gun, they cannot fight with anyone. They were killed for no reason,” said Safia Karim.

So far, Ghana has remained largely untouched by the uprising, although some attacks have been carried out in the neighboring Togo and Kot D'Ivoire.

In a recent statement to Gane journalist Mohammed Eliau Tanko, a man calling himself a JNIM representative, said the group had no interest in starting attacks in Ghana.

“They (JNIM fighters) are not allowed to take any action against Ghana. This is a clear and certain statement. JNIM are not looking for war against Ghana,” says the man known as Ansari, in the statement he would see.

However, the rise of public violence in one part of Northern Ghana expressed fears that jihadists are trying to operate the conflict in their favor.

The city of Bauku has been involved in decades of struggle between different ethnic groups to control the local leader. It is estimated that more than 100 people were killed in clashes after intensifying the fight last October.

“In the evening in Bauku is always (one of) rifles and fierce exchanges. People use AK47S, M16, all kinds of automatic rifles,” a resident told the BBC.

JNIM smugglers have been charged with the sale of weapons to both sides.

“We understand that they supply weapons they took from the Burkina military. They do this by relying on the trucks traveling to Niger and back, carrying onions. They hide the weapons inside these trucks,” Tano told the BBC.

“One of the intelligence officials confirmed to me that this is the new way they bring a firearm. And Ghana's security is poorly equipped to find those vehicles that pass, putting Ghana in a very critical situation,” added He.

Ghana Defense Minister Edward Omarne Boam did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

President John Mahama, who took office in January after winning the December presidential election, visited Bauku last month in an attempt to encourage peace between rival groups. However, the shootings continue to be reported.

The spokesman of the Ghana Governing Party Sammy Giamphi told the BBC that the termination of violence in Bauku was the “number one priority” of the government.

“Violence is already spreading, and if not being careful, it is likely that the rebels from the broader region will benefit from this conflict,” he said.

The three men he talks to said they did not rule out the possibility of spreading the uprising.

“This thing can go to any place or to any country. It has not existed in Togo, but now the attacks are happening there. If they can go to Togo they can get to Ghana. This thing is Strongly, it is powerful, “one of them said.

But another men took a cynical perspective, saying that the rebels in Burkina Faso were no longer leading an “Islamic struggle”.

“They just kill people and steal their livestock. What is happening is not jihad and that's why I don't like it,” he said.

You can listen to Ed Butler's report on the BBC World Service.