• “No to the abandonment of the Kompienga province”  Protesters.
• They accuse the government of leaving them to face jihadist attacks.
• More than 2,000 people have been killed and 1.8 million displaced.

Several hundred people demonstrated in southeastern Burkina Faso on Saturday, accusing the government of leaving them to fend for themselves in the face of deadly jihadist attacks.

The demonstration is the first of its kind since Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba took power in January following a coup.

His predecessor was accused of ineffectiveness in combating jihadist violence.

“No to the abandonment of the Kompienga province,” men and women cried in front of a public administration building in the town of Pama, according to local media.

In a letter to the province’s high commissioner seen by AFP, demonstrators criticized a “rapid encroachment of terrorism” threatening to engulf the province near the border with Togo and Benin.

Their plea for help, signed by religious dignitaries, civil society leaders, and traditional chiefs, denounced the “great neglect and abandonment by the state”, accusing public officials of having fled to a neighboring province.

Since February, jihadists have taken down telephone antennas and electricity supply lines and control all main axes in the province.

Read more: Ten police killed in Burkina Faso attack

“The province of Kompienga has been cut off from the rest of Burkina Faso, and besieged by armed groups,” the signatories said.

Burkina Faso has been battered by jihadist raids since 2015, with movements linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

More than 2,000 people have been killed and 1.8 million displaced.

Damibahas has stated that addressing the security crisis is his top priority, but the deadly attacks continue.

In January, he deposed elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, accusing him of being ineffective in the face of jihadist violence.

Read more: Two die in new Burkina Faso attack