The speed and scale of Burkina Faso's crisis has shocked observers. In recent years, extremist violence has wracked Libya, Mali and Northern Nigeria -- but Burkina Faso along with its neighbor Niger have remained largely immune. Once viewed as a buffer of stability, that is quickly changing, Eurasia Diary reports citing CNN.
A new UNICEF report released on Tuesday quantifies the alarming human cost of the escalating violence. More than 8 million school-aged children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have been forced from school. Nearly 1 million people are now displaced, with more than half of those coming from Burkina Faso.
"The security incidents have become worse and worse. You can now say that a third of the country has major security issues. This is a big change. Just three years ago there was hope here on most fronts. The country has moved backwards by 10 to 15 years and it is terrible to witness that," Anne Vincent, UNICEF's representative in Burkina Faso told.
"When you go to school you see that there is a possibility of a different way -- you hope that you can be someone, but now these children do not have normal lives" Anne told CNN.
"If they're not going to school in 10 years' time we'll see how an entire generation was sacrificed because they weren't able to learn. It won't be just them who suffers. It will be everyone," Laurent Dabiré, bishop in northern Burkina Faso said.