The Burkina Faso government has announced plans to raise 152 million euros for a "fund to support the war" against a bloody jihadist insurgency.

The fund "should enable us to raise 100 billion CFA for the year" 2023, Economy Minister Aboubacar Nacanabo said on Friday after talks with President Ibrahim Traore, employers and social partners.

"As part of the fight against terrorism, the government has decided to recruit 50,000 members of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland," or VDP, the minister said.

The civilian auxiliaries who support the army would be paid 60,000 CFA a month, or 91 euros, he added.

"Beside this cost, weapons have to be bought to equip them, uniforms to fit them out, vehicles and fuel to move them," Nacanabo said.

He also floated the "idea" of a one percent levy on all salaries, including those of members of parliament, and a sales tax on drinks, cigarettes, internet and luxury goods to help cover the costs of the fighting that has spread from Mali since 2015.

Prime Minister Apollinaire Kielem de Tembela last week asked France for arms and munitions for the auxiliaries.

The VDP auxiliary force was set up in late 2019 and provides two weeks' military training for surveillance, information-gathering or escort duties.

But hundreds of volunteers have been killed in ambushes or by roadside bombs.

Despite the losses, 90,000 people signed up during a recruitment drive for the VDP in November, according to the authorities.

Burkina Faso has experienced two military coups this year, driven by army officers angered at the failure to tackle the jihadist threat.

But the number of attacks linked to the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda have increased in recent months, particularly in the north and east of the landlocked nation in the heart of the Sahel.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, who took over as president after a coup on September 30, has declared his intention to win back territory occupied by the "terrorist hordes".

12 killed in attack in northern Burkina Faso
Ouagadougou (AFP) Dec 8, 2022 - At least 12 people, most of them civilian volunteers supporting the armed forces, were killed in northern Burkina Faso in a new attack by suspected jihadists, local sources told AFP on Thursday.

The attack took place on Wednesday at Boala in the Centre-North region, two residents and a regional leader of the VDP volunteer force told AFP.

"At least 10 volunteers were killed and there were several wounded, who were taken to the medical centre in Boulsa," the main town in Namentenga province, one of the residents said.

The VDP official said "several terrorists were neutralised by volunteers after a two-hour-long fight."

A poor landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, Burkina Faso is battling a seven-year-old jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali.

Thousands of civilians and members of the security forces have died and nearly two million people have fled their homes.

More than a third of the semi-desert country is in the control of the militants, and anger within the armed forces at military losses has spurred two coups this year.

The latest attack is the fourth in Burkina Faso since Sunday, and brings the latest tally of deaths to at least 27.

On Sunday six civilians, including four teachers, were killed by suspected jihadists at Bittou near the southeastern border with Ghana and Togo.

At least nine civilians were killed in the north on Monday and Tuesday in attacks on a village and a convoy of traders.

On November 26, four soldiers were killed by a bomb in the north, and three civilians were shot dead in the northeast.

The VDP -- the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland -- is an auxiliary force that supports the poorly equipped army.

Set up in December 2019, it comprises civilian volunteers who are given two weeks' military training and then carry out surveillance, information-gathering or escort duties.

But hundreds of volunteers have died, especially in ambushes or explosions caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted along roadsides.

Despite the losses, 90,000 people signed up during a recruitment drive for the VDP in November, according to the authorities.

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