On Saturday April 13, 2024, the PDS of the Bobo-Dioulasso association, Laurent Kontogom, went to meet displaced women and children who beg at the traffic lights, in the courtyard of the Nour tour transport company based in Diarradougou. Aim, to stop these people begging on the street.
In Bobo-Dioulasso, for some time, it has been seen that women and children have been setting up shop at traffic lights and at strategic intersections in the city to beg from passers-by. Therefore, this practice creates a real situation of insecurity for them and for the numbers. That is why the special delegation took strong measures to stop this issue. According to the president of the special municipal delegation Laurent Kontogom, “we were informed about an unfortunate case last Tuesday. It was related to the death of one of their number, in this case a two-year-old girl, in a market garden near the town’s museum. This accident saddened us greatly. We would like to offer our condolences. We no longer want to see children and women near traffic lights. On this, we will give them a three-day ultimatum, that is to say from April 13 to 16, to leave the building. On April 16, 2024, from 4 pm, if we find one of them on the street, we will use coercive methods to solve the problem. ” And the PDS clarified that the authorities will still be open to welcome them if they want to reintegrate into society. “We have identified more than 4,000 people, mostly women and children, from Niger, who are living in this emergency situation. We recommend that they organize themselves so that we can find activities that will generate income for them in the agrosylvopastoral field and many others,” he also said.
The regional director in charge of solidarity, Wend-kuni Benjamin Ouédraogo, is sure that the message has gone over, because since October, his representatives have been crossing the city to return opportunities offer social to beggars.
For Gado Djibo, the vice-president of the Nigerien community that lives in Burkina Faso, “this initiative is welcome, because it will stop this issue. We have criticized this practice for a long time, but we wanted to wait for the first step from the authorities to make our contribution.” “Now that it is ready, we hope that the authorities will be able to succeed in their mission in the coming days. We have always been tired of this practice. If you leave your house at home and you find people from your community in this situation, it will be uncomfortable for you,” he laments.
Jaliha Laouali, a representative of internally displaced women and children, is a mother of three children and welcomes the initiative. She assures that most of those begging near the traffic lights want to return to Niger, even if some want to stay in Burkina Faso to reintegrate into the society.
Ben Alassane DAO
