Panafrican News Agency

The Burkinabe government is looking for authors of hate speech against Fulani community

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The Burkinabe government announced Friday in a statement that "hate speech of unprecedented violence is currently circulating in audios on social networks against the Fulani community and that actions have been initiated to find the authors of these acts".

"In statements that deeply shock the human and national conscience, individuals are promoting a stale ethnicism and calling for the collective murder of some of our compatriots," government spokesperson Lionel Bilgo said in his statement.

The government "strongly condemns the statements contained in these audios which aim to undermine the foundations of our living together", he said, adding that the government "will do everything in its power to seek out and find the authors of these inflammatory statements so that they can be held accountable for their actions".

The government "reassures all the components of our nation that no Burkinabe citizen will be discriminated against on the basis of his or her ethnicity, community, religion, race or political opinions," Mr. Bilgo said.

He maintained that the government "reaffirms its attachment to the values of fraternity, solidarity and peaceful coexistence that have always characterized our people".

He urged all Burkinabè "not to echo the siren songs of hatred and division and to distance themselves from the obscure ideas conveyed in the said audios for a Burkina of peace and fraternal cohesion between all the daughters and sons of our Nation".

-0- PANA TNDD/IS/BBA/RA 17June2022