Burkina Faso girls find refuge from forced marriage

One week after another coup d'état, our correspondents take stock of years of political instability and terrorism in Burkina Faso. International organisations say there are now two million internally displaced people inside the country, and many of them are children. Also in this edition: Lesotho goes to the polls.

In Afghanistan, girls are at increasing risk of child marriage. As hunger and poverty surge, families are offering their underage girls, some very young, to older men in exchange for money. Volunteers from Too Young to Wed are helping girls reunite with their parents.

In an interview with DW, Oscar-winning Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy spoke about her new animated film, "Sitara: Let Girls Dream," on the issue of child marriage. She says that some 12 million girls in the world are not able to reach their potential due to early marriages.

These are some of the Chibok Girls abducted in 2014 by Boko Haram terrorists and later rescued by the Nigerian military. On Tuesday, 29 November 2022, some of them were presented to the public and The Guardian’s Leo Sobechi witnessed the presentation.

The Burkinabe military government did not provide a reason for its decision. It comes after the government expelled two French nationals and accused them of espionage.

Burkinabé authourities say they're looking into a massacre committed over the weekend. At least 28 bodies were found in the region of Nouna. In Rutshuru DR Congolese families have been fleeing clashes between M23 rebels and soldiers. And a grammy award winning Kenyan musician has created a one stop shop for artists to make it easier to get exposure and track and make money.

The bodies of 28 people who were shot dead have been discovered in Burkina Faso's north-western town of Nouna, the government has said. A civil society group blamed the killings on armed civilians claiming to be members of a government-backed volunteer force fighting jihadists.

The UN commissioner has called for a swift and transparent investigation into the killing of 28 people in northern Burkina Faso. A rights group said the victims belonged to a traditional hunting community.

The women were picking fruit near a town blockaded by the militants for years, causing food shortages. The incident is considered the first mass abduction of women in the country.

Some 50 women were abducted by jihadis in northern Burkina Faso, as they ventured out to find food for their families amid shortages due to militant blockades. The Burkinabe government announced the kidnappings in the Northern province of Soum on Monday.

Sixty-six women and children kidnapped by armed assailants in northern Burkina Faso last week have been freed, national broadcaster Radiodiffusion Television du Burkina (RTB) said on Friday

Relations between the two nations soured after the army took control, for a second time, in Burkina Faso in September last year. France also pulled out of neighboring Mali last year.