Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland

On 7 November 2019, following a jihadist attack on a mining convoy, the president of Burkina Faso called for the creation of a civilian self-defense force. On 21 January 2020,^[5] the parliament of Burkina Faso passed a law establishing the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland. The law stipulated that people could voluntarily join the VDP and that after 14 days^[6] of training they were to be equipped with communication and vision equipment, together with weapons.^[7] Members of the VDP have been accused of the murder of 19 men near Manja Hien in February 2020, and attacks on Peuhle villages in Yatenga, in which 43 people were killed.^[8]

On 4 June 2021, during the Solhan and Tadaryat massacres, jihadists attacked VDP barracks before attacking civilians.^[9] On 11 June 2021, six VDP fighters were killed in a jihadist ambush in Kogolbaraogo.^[10] In December 2021 a jihadist attack killed many VDP fighters including one of their leaders, Ladij Joro.^[11]

The VDP was possibly grouped into the Burkina Faso Armed Forces, or legitimized into the government, as referenced by Ibrahim Traoré.^[12]

• Demuynck, Méryl (2021). Civilians on the Front Lines of (counter-) Terrorism: Lessons from the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland in Burkina Faso (PDF) (Report). International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.
• Pooda, Mathieu; Simpore, Yacouba; Traore, Oumar (2024). "Modeling and Multi-objective Optimal Control of the Dynamics of Counterterrorism in the Sahel Region in Africa". European Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics. 17 (2): 870–904. doi:10.29020/nybg.ejpam.v17i2.5122.
• Quidelleur, Tanguy (2024). Arming civilians in Burkina Faso: the state, the war on terror and the militarisation of society (PDF). Policy Brief (Report). Vol. 22.
• Tisseron, Antonin (2021). Pandora's Box: Burkina Faso, Self-defense Militias and VDP Law in Fighting Jihadism (PDF) (Report). Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Peace and Security Competence Centre Sub-Saharan Africa. ISBN 978-2-490093-23-6.
• Zutterling, Claire (2021). Regional Stability Monitoring in the Sahel and West Africa: October-December 2020 (Report). Recherche et d'Information sur la Paix et la Sécurité.
• "Crises threaten trust in Burkina Faso's government". Expert Briefings. Oxford Analytica. 2020. doi:10.1108/OXAN-DB253353. ISSN 2633-304X.
• "Sahelian militias aid and undercut peace prospects". Expert Briefings. Oxford Analytica. 2021. doi:10.1108/OXAN-DB261041. ISSN 2633-304X.