"After God, here it's the army. Thanks to it I sleep soundly, I wake up in the morning in peace": faced with incursions by jihadists from neighboring Burkina Faso, the Ivorian army has managed to secure the country's northeastern border and partially reassure the population.

But the security situation remains precarious on this porous border, where a new armed actor, the civilian auxiliaries of the junta in power in Burkina, pose an additional threat, an AFP team noted during a long mission in this region designated as "red" by Western chancelleries.

"The presence of the army reassures us. If it leaves the area, I'll leave the village," comments Adama Ouattara, "youth president" of Moro Moro (520 km north of Abidjan).

With a filthy polo shirt that contrasts with a devastating smile, this peasant with wrestler's shoulders is full of praise for the Ivorian soldiers who came on patrol that day to visit this village lost in the bush, a stone's throw from the border.

Hit by jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda who killed 16 soldiers in Kafolo in two attacks in June 2020 and March 2021, northeastern Ivory Coast has not seen any notable incidents since.

Life has resumed as normal, except for a strong military presence and a clearly reinforced state influence, it was noted. This situation contrasts with the violence spreading to other coastal countries in the region, such as Benin and Togo.

"Permanent watch"

In Kafolo, where the remains of the attacked camp have been razed to make way for the grayish brick walls of the future vegetable market amidst the weeds, the villagers go to the fields as if nothing had happened.

The beige minaret of the mosque dominates this modest hamlet crisscrossed by red dirt tracks, where goats nonchalantly graze on plastic waste.

On this part of the border clearly demarcated by the Comoé River, the village is mainly invaded by local employees in fluorescent vests from a construction company responsible for paving two key roads.

Vigilance remains essential, however. "We stop work in the middle of the afternoon. We never travel at night," one of them confides.

"The jihadists are camped in the village of Alidougou, just on the other side of the river, three kilometers away," warns a veteran expert on the area.

"Before, we would go to Burkina Faso to get corn, wheat, cereals... Now we don't cross the border, we've also deserted the fields there, it's more prudent," explains Abdelrahman Ouattara, another "youth president" in the neighboring town of Tougbo.

"At one point, the jihadists were trying to recruit. They were speaking in mosques. We haven't seen them for a while," says this 42-year-old, under the watchful eye of the captain in charge of the motorized patrol of the 1st Parachute Commando Battalion.

In contact with the villagers, the Ivorian soldiers go fishing for information, looking for the slightest "suspicious fact", "slightly strange" behavior or report of any new face in the area.

Nearly 200 to 300 Fulani residents who lived there before the attacks have since "left the village with their herds" of cows, says Tiémogo Bamba, the chief of the village of Kafolo.

To where? We don't really know... In these regions of great cross-border transhumance, the nomadic Fulani are often accused of collusion with the jihadists by other communities, farmers, Malinké, Lobi, Koulango and Mossi.

"Up to the neck!"

In this long-poor and neglected savannah region, the "security challenges" are "terrorism and illegal gold mining," summarized Defense Minister Téné Birahima Ouattara in mid-August, who is also the brother of President Alassane Ouattara, in power since 2011 and who is seeking a fourth term on October 25.

The situation there "is worrying but under control," the minister explained, describing a "permanent monitoring posture" and a military presence reinforced in recent years which has made it possible to prevent any new "infiltration or attempted large-scale terrorist attacks."

The immediate vicinity of the immense Comoé National Park, once particularly rich in elephants, lions, antelopes and beasts of all kinds, fuels local hopes for a revival of tourism, despite warnings from Western embassies.

"There are good prospects," believes local MP Abdoulaye Karim Diomandé. "The security deployment is visible and very effective; major efforts have been made, and it's working."

No jihadists have been arrested or recently spotted in the park, according to all sources interviewed on site by AFP, which was able to explore the trails of this immense, enchanting savannah in depth.

"The terrorists can no longer attack" Ivorian territory, "we have taken our measures and we are containing them," one of the region's military officials told AFP, highlighting the "network of camps, posts and military positions" built and scattered in the bush along the border.

"But the jihadists are deeply entrenched on the Burkinabe side. Many villages are occupied there. The threat still exists," this source concedes. The junta in Burkina "wants us to believe that things are going well, but things are not going well at all there, people are dying in large numbers."

"We've restored the situation. It could degenerate again at any moment," another officer analyses, confirming this idea of a deceptive calm.

Trade in decline

Because another danger is looming in this Ivorian region of Bounkani, also coming from Burkina: the VDP, acronym for "Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland," these civilian auxiliaries of the Burkinabe army deployed to fight against the jihadists.

Their presence is particularly problematic on this porous border, in its poorly demarcated land section, the site of numerous trades and trafficking, the route of cattle transhumance, and where populations have always lived intertwined.

This comes at a time when Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso have had atrocious relations since the coup leader and anti-imperialist Ibrahim Traoré came to power in Ouagadougou nearly three years ago. Burkina regularly accuses its neighbor of destabilization, something Abidjan denies.

At the end of August, six Ivorian refugee officials on assignment in a small border village were kidnapped and taken to Burkina Faso by VDPs, according to local sources. Four villagers were also killed during an incursion by "unidentified armed individuals," according to the army.

At the region's main border post, in Doropo, the relationship remains seemingly cordial, AFP noted. The border is open. "We greet each other with our neighboring colleagues every morning," comments Warrant Officer Houyaou. Under a blazing sun, pedestrians and cyclists calmly cross the barrier. Two children from Burkina Faso, hand in hand, go to the Ivorian "hairdresser" set up under a shack with a tin roof.

"The police there make things difficult. I don't cross anymore. We're very careful. Cross-border trade has dropped by almost 50%," explains Traoré Lacina, president of the Doropo traders.

Market prices reflect this slowdown in cross-border flows: the price of cows from Burkina Faso, whose number has fallen from 400 heads/day to just a hundred, has risen by almost 40%.

"The same people"

"We are the same people. (...) But people are afraid now, it's better for everyone to stay at home," laments Sigué Ouattara, a notable from the Koulango ethnic chiefdom.

"The problem now is the VDPs, we can't negotiate with them," adds the president of the traders.

Diko Abderhaman, the representative of the Fulani community, targeted by the VDP, recalls that "thousands of refugees" from his ethnic group have left Burkina Faso in recent years.

Côte d'Ivoire is hosting nearly 70,000 Burkinabés who have fled their country, including 35,000 in the Bounkani region alone, according to the UNHCR. The Ivorian government has built and funded two reception camps; the rest live in communities.

Massive arrivals which "exert increasing pressure on local resources," warned the UNHCR, and which sometimes exacerbate community tensions, which are still sensitive.

"The arrival of asylum seekers," as they are called here, "scared us; there were terrorists among them," says Angeline Som, a trader and president of a women's NGO in Doropo, reflecting the concerns of many.

Ivorians among the VDP

"The jihadist problem is under control in Bouna (the provincial capital)," summarizes a local journalist. "The danger now is the VDP, the war with Burkina Faso, and, from here, the provocations from the neighboring country."

"Agents of the Burkinabe junta in Bouna are spreading rumors and false news," says this observer. Meanwhile, "young people living here, Burkinabe but also Ivorians, have enlisted on the other side with the VDP."

"Burkinabe who have been living in this northern part of Ivory Coast for years have gone to enlist in the VDP. They sometimes come back to sleep at our house or rest with their families. And they cause problems. And there are also Ivorians," a very reliable security source confirmed, worried.

Asked about this, the Minister of Defence, noting the porosity of this border and "their delimitation process currently suspended", acknowledged "some tensions with our brothers in arms on both sides of the border that we are trying to resolve quickly as soon as they appear and through diplomatic channels".

"We have been instructed not to respond to provocations," said the security source.

But residents are alarmed. "Everywhere along this border you can encounter VDPs," emphasizes veterinary inspector Vincent Baret, stationed in Doropo.

"As a civil servant, I can't go far into the bush. Our soldiers have to deal with the VDP every day. They're just illiterate militiamen, but they keep our minds busy. And they worry us more than the jihadists now."