Hunger grips Burkina Faso due to increasing jihadi violence

By SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Hunger is soaring across conflict-ridden Burkina Faso, a result of increasing violence by jihadi rebels linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, which has killed thousands and displaced millions, preventing people from farming. According to the latest food security report by the government and U.N. agencies, some 3.5 million people in Burkina Faso are food insecure, with nearly 630,000 expected to be on the brink of starvation. This is an 82% increase from last year of people facing emergency hunger. Jihadi rebels are also expanding and pushing south and west into Burkina Faso’s breadbasket, stealing crops and livestock and chasing people from their rural farms and into cities.