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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 9
Publication Date: September 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.109.14627.
Bacyé, Y. F., Zangré, K. K. R., & Kabore, W. E. (2023). Security Uncertainty and Reorganization of Urban Spaces in the City of
Ouagadougou. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(9). 201-210.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Security Uncertainty and Reorganization of Urban Spaces in the
City of Ouagadougou
Bacyé, Yisso Fidèle
Université Thomas Sankara, Centre Universitaire de Tenkodogo,
Laboratoire Genre et Développement de l’Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo
Zangré, Konseiga Kisswendsida Romaine
Université Thomas Sankara, Centre Universitaire de Dori,
Laboratoire Genre et Développement de l'Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo
Kabore, Windlanaba Etienne
Université Joseph KI-Zerbo, Laboratoire Genre et
Développement de l’Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo
ABSTRACT
The security crisis that Burkina Faso is experiencing, although mainly occurring in
rural areas, is influencing the behavior of citizens in terms of urban infrastructure
development. In fact, public area in the city of Ouagadougou is constantly being
redesigned to take into account the uncertainty of a terrorist attack. Military and
paramilitary spaces are equipped with security devices2 forcing road users to
bypass them to access services. What explains the choice of barriers requiring the
disorganization of urban space? The objective of this research is to understand the
determinants of the choice of the layout of barriers in lieu of the adoption of
innovative means of surveillance and to identify the process of establishing these
barriers. The research method is qualitative and is operationalized through in- depth interviews with a variety of people, including municipal services, security
services, and users of services adjacent to the security services. The results show a
lack of coordination between the municipal services in charge of urban planning
and the security services that adopt road closures. A low use of digital surveillance
equipment and a weak capacity to react in case of danger explain the choice of the
use of protective barriers and barbed wire.
Keywords: uncertainty, security, redevelopment, urban spaces, Ouagadougou
INTRODUCTION
The sub-Saharan African countries of, like the rest of the continent characterized by a
traditional fragile security situation, are plagued to an endogenous production insecurity that
undermines their integrity as independent states [1]. African cities are not spared from
incursions by armed groups that create violence. In the search for better strategies to fight
efficiently against the phenomenon of insecurity in cities, many prevention methods have been
developed and widely analyzed. The causes of insecurity have to be found in the disorder of
social practices through the affirmation of human responsibility in the appearance of dangers
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and plagues [2]. For this reason, prevention is better than cure. That is why, in the prevention
of insecurity it is necessary to mobilize the defense and security forces in the detection of
suspicious movements, control towers and security patrols in criminogenic areas in the city [3].
The same applies to the creation of surveillance services to strengthen routine controls and the
development of control techniques that rely mainly on video surveillance [4] . The securing of
urban space is the cement of its animation. For the appropriation of this space by city dwellers,
security is therefore a sine qua non condition [5]
In a study carried out in the context of urban insecurity and intervention policies in Italy, the
concept of prevention is defined as "the set of actions aimed at eliminating or reducing the
frequency of behaviors considered, in various ways, as criminal by using means other than
those provided by the penal system." [6, p. 466]. According to that study, these different actions
cannot be effectively coordinated in the absence of community policing. This police force can
have a positive influence on the perception of the population regarding urban security. And
even if it does not succeed in eliminating the deep causes of insecurity, it will still constitute a
reassuring neighborhood and a visible means of taking into consideration the problems of the
city dwellers [6]. In the same way, community policing allows to reduce the problems of
insecurity and crime, and facilitates a quick intervention when the population expresses the
need thanks to the means of mobility and communication that have been granted to them such
as motorcycles, bicycles, Motorola radios [7].
To allow the police to properly carry out their missions, the contribution of the population is
important. In view of the persistence of the difficulties recorded in the fight against this scourge,
it is necessary to look back and to act with a forward-looking and anticipatory vision for a real
community participation [8]. In the same vein, the police would like to see a better involvement
of the population, a strengthening of the relationship between the police and the population for
an effective action in the fight against insecurity and to meet the expectations of the population
on security [9]. Accordingly, the neighborhood chiefs have been asked to identify bandits, to
locate them and to ensure that foreigners living in the neighborhood are subject to community
rules.
The city of Ouagadougou, like other cities in sub-Saharan Africa, is experiencing insecurity. The
need to have their own dwelling pushes city dwellers to settle in the peripheral areas, causing
the city to spread out. This sprawl does not go hand in hand with the concept of a sustainable
city [10]. This is why several military camps are concentrated in the city center. The current
development of the city of Ouagadougou dates from 1999. In the revision of the Development
Master Plan (SDA) of "Greater Ouaga", it was question of sending away the barracks from the
city of Ouagadougou. It is planned, a pole of security and defense where the camps will be
relocated at Koubri, Loumbila, Komki-Ipala, Pabré and Saaba [10].
With the growing phenomenon of insecurity in Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou has been the target
of two terrorist attacks. Its first terrorist attack was recorded on January 15, 2016 against the
Cappuccino café-restaurant, the Taxi brousse and Splendid Hotel, all located on Avenue
Kwamé-N'krumah. This horrific terrorist attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM). On Friday, March 2, 2018, Ouagadougou had just experienced a second round
of terrorist attacks targeting the French embassy and the headquarters of the Burkinabe army.
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Bacyé, Y. F., Zangré, K. K. R., & Kabore, W. E. (2023). Security Uncertainty and Reorganization of Urban Spaces in the City of Ouagadougou. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(9). 201-210.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.109.14627
Urban insecurity led to the birth of the "night-time economy" concept in the 1990s in order to
breathe new life into the night-time of British cities, which was dying out because of insecurity.
Indeed, the extent of insecurity was leading city dwellers to desert the city entertainment at
night: "it takes specific forms in connection with the dominant collective representations
associated with urban night time as a time for leisure and celebration. [5, p. 1]
Considering these terrorist attacks, the defense and security forces have reorganized the areas
located near the camps, police stations and the army headquarters. There are barbed wire
fences and barriers of different kinds. The security barriers are used to control access and to
guarantee the security of the premises. Located at the entrances of parking lots, companies,
communities, campsites, camps ..., they are simple to install and maintain. Different types of
security barriers are available: access control barriers, construction site barriers, parking
barriers, expandable barriers... City barriers are used to protect and delimit spaces. They are
very important for an optimal urban design. However, they create worries for residents and
other traffic users. As a proof, on the night of Saturday, February 20th, 2021, around 11:15 p.m.,
a white expatriate attempted to break through the barriers of Air Force Base 511 near the
Ouagadougou International Airport. The guard (military) opened fire on the vehicle. The
individual wounded at the stomach was reportedly evacuated to Yalgado hospital for
treatment. Also, on June 21st, 2022, around 8:00 p.m., according to information provided by the
military staff, a motorist attempted to break through a barrier installed not far from the base.
Elements of the air base fired warning shots to deter the driver of the vehicle. Two civilians lost
their lives. These two examples raise the issue of the occupation of urban space in the context
of insecurity. This raises the question of how to erect security barriers in the city of
Ouagadougou. Do these barriers really secure people and property? This article aims to answer
these questions by emphasizing the importance of barriers in securing people and property in
the city, but above all by analyzing the appropriateness of these barriers in the context of
insecurity in Burkina Faso.
METHODOLOGY
This socio-anthropological research mainly uses interviews as a data collection technique.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a variety of socio-professional groups in the
city of Ouagadougou. These included the Defense and Security Forces, traffic users and/or
residents of camps and police stations, and city hall officials. The different themes discussed
were related to the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, their perceptions of
the erection of security barriers in order to curb the security crisis and the prospects for
securing people and property in the city. The need to define the population in this research for
the constitution of the sample led us to use the random sampling technique for traffic users. For
the Defense and Security Forces, we used the snowball sampling technique. For the last
category, we used indirect modes of access, which consisted of: "through third parties, whether
institutional or personal" [12, p. 57]. We contacted them through their colleagues or
collaborators in the departments, the secretaries, the office agents. The use of these different
sampling techniques is all the more legitimate since the subject of security barriers and
therefore insecurity is very sensitive in the Defense and Security Forces. Each element of the
Defense and Security Forces interviewed was responsible for leading us to the other, and so on.
We met with the road users in the vicinity of the camps and police stations and negotiated the
interview. In order to diversify the sources of information, the principle of triangulation of
informants was favored in order to take into account several socio-professional categories. The
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principle of saturation was favored as a sign of the end of the surveys. "The principle of
saturation is obviously more than a signal of the end: it is a methodological guarantee of
primary importance, complementary to triangulation." [13, p. 88]. Thus, ten (10) elements of
the Defense and Security Forces, twenty (20) traffic users and five (05) city hall agents
participated in the survey. The data collected in the field was recorded on a Dictaphone and
transcribed, then processed and analyzed according to a thematic scheme. The objective of
thematic analysis is to process textual data and oral discourse in order to identify their
meaning. It "consists in transversally cutting the whole corpus. The unit of division is the theme
which represents a fragment of discourse. It undoes, as it were, the singularity of the discourse
and transversally cuts out what, from one interview to another, refers to the same theme. It
seeks a thematic coherence between interviews.
This methodological orientation allowed us to achieve the following results.
RESULTS
In front of the security crisis that has shaken Burkina Faso since then, several solutions have
been proposed to curb it. However, the phenomenon of insecurity, even if it is a rural
phenomenon, also occurs in the city and requires an analysis in order to counteract or even
annihilate it. From the data collected in the field, the participants analyzed the security situation
in the country, invoked security barriers as preventive measures to fight against insecurity
while not hiding the influence of barriers in urban planning and proposed perspectives for a
judicious use of measures that secure people and goods in the city of Ouagadougou.
The Security Situation in Burkina Faso
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been experiencing an unprecedented security crisis that has
never occurred in its contemporary history. Analyzing the current security situation allows us
to know what urgent measures need to be taken in order to ward off any attack. Through the
field survey conducted among users of the urban public space, the Defense and Security Forces
and the town hall, a varied collection of speeches was provided to analyze the security situation
in the country. In this regard, some interviewees asserted that "the security situation as
becoming increasingly unhealthy. [12, pp. 94-95][12, pp. 94-95]. In the same vein, a 33-year- old resident of Karpala, a district in Ouagadougou, who holds a bachelor's degree, stated: "The
situation is very worrying with the repeated attacks. The situation in the country is frightening:
when you go out in the morning, pray to God to come back safe and sound. The Defense and
Security Forces sound the same trumpet to justify the security situation in the country. The
following speeches analyze the security situation in these terms:
"The security situation in our country got deteriorated dramatically due to the almost daily
attacks by armed terrorist groups against the positions of the Defense and Security Forces,
against the civilian population, and against the symbols of the State. This situation, which is all
the more alarming because the Defense and Security Forces are struggling to contain it, has led
our country into a double security and humanitarian crisis due to a large number of internally
displaced persons" (FDS, 35 years old, Ouagadougou).
The entire population would be vulnerable and is a potential target for the enemy. The attacks
are not only directed against elements of the defense and security forces. In their strategy to
weaken the state, the terrorists do not spare the civilian population, even though they are non-
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Bacyé, Y. F., Zangré, K. K. R., & Kabore, W. E. (2023). Security Uncertainty and Reorganization of Urban Spaces in the City of Ouagadougou. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(9). 201-210.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.109.14627
combatants and unarmed. At the same time, this vulnerability of the population poses the
problem of the status of the state, which is incapable of defending its citizens, and at the same
time the effectiveness of popular disarmament and humanitarian response capacity.
Terrorist actions have had many material and human consequences in Burkina Faso. In this
sense, an element of the Defense and Security Forces described the situation in these terms:
The security situation is very critical due to the multiple terrorist attacks Burkina Faso has
faced since 2015. The consequences of these attacks are the numerous losses of human life, the
growing number of internally displaced persons, and the loss of control of the territory (FDS,
34 years old, head of department, for 3 years).
These assertions reflect the deteriorating security situation in the country. Since the beginning
of the year 2022, it has gone from bad to worse. confronted with this meteoric rise in insecurity
in the city of Ouagadougou, preventive measures are being taken. They concern security
barriers. Empirical observation allows us to note that barriers are erected around military
camps, gendarmerie brigades, police stations and town halls for the occasion. What types of
barriers are erected? Why these types of barriers? Do these barriers really provide security?
Security Barriers, Preventive Measures to Fight Against Insecurity?
Among the preventive measures against insecurity are the security barriers. What types of
barriers are used? To this question, a 39-year-old police commissioner answers: "Depending
on the situation, we use three types of barriers. These are permanent fixed barriers, temporary
fixed barriers and temporary mobile barriers. But as far as the issue of insecurity is concerned,
we use permanent fixed barriers. Addressing the issue of form, another said, "We usually use
concrete markers and wire mesh filled with sand or barrels" (FDS, 35, Ouagadougou).
On the importance of barriers, some interviewees believe that security barriers are very
important because they protect against possible terrorist attacks, as we have seen on several
occasions in the city of Ouagadougou. In this regard, he justifies his position: "They (the
barriers) are very useful in that they allow us to isolate sensitive sites, even if they constitute
an obstacle to the freedom of movement. (FDS, 25 years old, Ouagadougou). Another
respondent added: "In my opinion, security barriers help to protect sensitive sites against
possible external aggression, particularly terrorist attacks. (FDS, 31 years old, Ouagadougou).
A third insists: "It is normal and even very beneficial; the only problem is that these barriers
often do not exist or are light, which does not prevent the enemy from approaching to open fire.
(Traffic user, 40 years old, Master).
While some interviewees were in favor of security barriers, others were more nuanced, even
though they recognized the importance of these barriers in protecting people and property.
Barriers are Unnecessary congestion since the evil forces do not need to be inside the target to
attack it. Putting concrete markers or sandbags in front of the barracks is quite necessary since
they will serve as a protective base in case of a situation. (SDF, 30 years old, Ouagadougou).
It is not so much the congestion of the roadways with barriers that is decried but the adaptation
or effectiveness of these in the event of attacks that is emphasized by the interviewee.