(ODP/MT), the ruling party, is reported to have put on fire, through its militants, a Peugeot
505 vehicle of the Chairman of MBDHP. This incident is reported to have taken place in
front of the headquarters of another political party now dissolved. La Convention pour le
Peuple (CNPP/PS) whose militants, fearing to see their headquarters burnt down, are
reported to have called on Mr. Halidou Ouedraogo to prevent the crime. The Complainant
maintains that the authors of this act of hooliganism are known and that some of them are
reported to have been active again with the task of intimidating any person, especially
workers and students, suspected of being against the powers that be.
8. Following the above-mentioned destruction of his vehicle, the complaint filed at the
Ouagadougou Criminal Court by Mr. Ouedraogo in October 1991 is said to have no effect.
9. In June 1994, after closing from work, Mr. Ouedraogo is reported to have been a victim of
an assassination attempt. When he put his car on, it is reported to have exploded and he
survived only by a miracle. A complaint filed against X at the Ouagadougou Criminal
Court for assassination attempt and destruction of personal property is reported to have no
effect.
10.
The Complainant claims that in May 1995 a student demonstration took a dramatic
turn for the worse in a locality called Garango, two hundred kilometres from
Ouagadougou. A gendarme identified by MBDHP is reported to have shot dead at close
range two students. The enquiry speedily launched by the said Movement which led to the
submission of the case to the Criminal Court of the said locality is reported not to have
been examined. On the other hand, one Ouya Bertin, a Member of Parliament representing
his state, is reported to have accused the Chairman of MBDHP of manipulating the pupils
and students. The former is reported to have declared at a gathering that Mr. Halidou
Ouedraogo should be got rid of and that in any case "measures have been taken to
liquidate him" MBDHP filed a complaint of libel and death threats against its Chairman.
This complaint is also reported to have remained without effect to date.
11.
The Complainant also alleges several human rights violations as well as threats
reported to have been made against his movement and person during successive Burkina
students' strikes in February, March and April 1997.
12.
Referring to the turbulent political situation that prevailed in Burkina Faso between
1989 and 1990, the claimant alleges that there were many kidnapping cases followed by
executions. He cited the disappearance of persons suspected or accused of plotting against
the State among them Mr. Guillaume Sessouma who, at the time he was
kidnapped/arrested, was a lecturer at the University of Ouagadougou and who has not
been seen since 1989. Similarly, Dabo Boukary, a medical student arrested in May 1990
by the Presidential Guard has not reappeared to this day. According to the claimant, the
authorities are reported to have said that the latter might have fled.
13.
As for assassinations, he cited those of Mr. Clement Oumarou Ouedraogo, a
University Professor and erstwhile representative of Burkina Faso at UNESCO, gunned
down in the middle of a street in Ouagadougou on 9th December 1991, two farmers killed
in 1996 at 120 kilometres from Ouagadougou during a so-called police routine check, as
well as the 1994/95 assassinations of people in the locality of Kaya (Nahouri). He claims