Old Story Of Burkina Faso Doctor Sent To War As Punishment For Criticizing Government Resurfaces On Social Media

A Facebook post reads:

After Dr. Arouna Loure, a doctor in Burkina Faso, criticized Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the country’s leader, for his lack of ability to combat terrorism, Traoré’s government detained Loure and sent him to the front lines of combat, claiming that since Loure believes he is more knowledgeable than him and the soldiers, he should assist in combating terrorism himself.

In February 2024, the BBC reported widely with civil society and Human rights lawyers condemning this practice by the Military leader.

Anaesthetist Arouna Louré was sent to the front lines of the fight against Islamists causing havoc in the West African state, which was widely perceived as punishment for his outspoken criticism of Burkina Faso’s military leadership.

Dr. Louré claimed that when armed soldiers unexpectedly stormed through the entrance of the hospital where he worked in the capital, Ouagadougou, he was in the operating room with patients.

As one of the men who had been forced to join the so-called volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), the young doctor was bundled int a van by the soldiers and transported to a military training camp hundreds of miles away.

The anaesthetist believes he was targeted because he was a vocal critic of the military ruler on social media, describing them as “constitutional deserters” as they left the front lines and were sending civilians instead.

He told the BBC “In this country, we are no longer free to say what we think,” he told the BBC.

Amnesty International has taken up his plight, calling for his “safe return to civilian life and to end the use of conscription as a tool to silence dissent”.