UN rights chief: Burkina Faso is facing a security crisis

By SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief says if insecurity in Burkina Faso keeps up,  the West African country could spiral into a humanitarian and human rights “catastrophe.” The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, spoke to The Associated Press during her first visit to the war-weakened nation, which has seen an escalation in human rights abuses by its own security forces as it attempts to tackle a jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. During her four-day trip, Bachelet visited the hard-hit Sahel region and spoke to key officials, including President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, religious leaders, civil society groups and victims of human rights abuses.