François Compaoré, brother of Blaise Compaoré, from 1987 to 2014 president / dictator of Burkina Faso, is currently a fugitive in France. A country that refusesto extradite him. He is accused of many crimes, including the murder of some albinos, whose bodies would have been used for witchcraft practices. Its sumptuous villa, in the center of Ouagadougou, is now uninhabited.

In the large “black” market of Boinsyaaré, in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkna Faso, many animal fetishes are being sold used for black magic practices, like this monkey heads.

On 10 October 2016, some farmers have found along this stretch of bank of water that supplies Ouagadougou, two severed human heads. The local police ascertained that they had been used by a local witch doctor for a ritual of black magic. One person has been arrested, the rest of the bodies has never been found.

A young albino from Ouagadougou. In many sub-Saharan African countries, including Burkina Faso, people with albinism are often discriminated against. And sometimes even killed or mutilated, because their bodies are used for witchcraft practices.

Many of the women in the center of Safula, on the outskirts of Ouagadougouare, hosting people accused of witchcraft practices, they are very old and with serious health problems. Women arrive at the centre after being driven out of their villages as they are considered witches. Many of them are forced to wander for weeks in the countryside, in some cases dying of starvation, before they manage to reach Ouagadougou, the capital.

On the streets of Burkina Faso it is easy to meet animal fetishes. A severed goat head is the “recipe” that a local witch doctor has prescribed to his “client” for protection.Or as a tool to hit its competitors or enemies.

Followers of the sorcerer Guibkoudgo Ouidi, who lives in the village of Guiba, in the province of Zoundwéogo, test the effectiveness of protective fetishes on an 'initiated' child. Women arrive at the centre after being driven out of their villages as they are considered witches. Many of them are forced to wander for weeks in the countryside, in some cases dying of starvation, before they manage to reach Ouagadougou, the capital.

Lion’s skin sells like strong fetishe in the black” market of Boinsyaaré, in Ouagadougou. The trade in fetishes used in magical practices is widespread in Burkina Faso.

On the outskirts of Ouagadougou, in the area of Safoula, a large farm run by some foreign NGOs welcomes more than three hundred women, and some men, accused of witchcraft and for this reason driven out of their villages.

In many areas of Burkina Faso, climate change has radically changed the precipitation cycle. Violent and disastrous floods hit cities and countr yside unpredictably,often causing serious damage to crops and homes. Zaktouli, Ouagadougou.

Some of the women housed in the center of Safula receive the visit of their family members, who risk, keeping these contacts, to be themselves expelled from the villages.

Protective fetishes exhibited in the Manega Bendrologie Museum, about two hours drive from the capital Ougagoudou. In the museum are collected hundreds of tatues, masks, fetishes and other objects related to the magical practices of the tribes of central Africa.

Many of the areas in the north of the Burkina Faso are affected by desertification. The inability to practice subsistence farming makes people flee from small villages likethis, surrounded by the advancing desert.

Guibkoudgo Ouidi lives in the village of Guiba, in the province of Zoundwéogo. He defines himself as a consultant and a medium. He is considered a powerful local sorcerer, with many followers, owner of an important collection of fetishes.

Many of the women in the center of Safula suffer from severe mental disorders. Before the military coup in January 2022, the Burkina Faso government promoted the return of ostracised people to their native villages. However, only a small percentage of the people expelled because they were accused of witchcraft actually managed to return.

The “medicine man” from the village of Gouema, not far from the city of Kaya, receives some customers from neighboring villages. In the villages of Burkina Faso, for health problems, most people turn to “white magic” sorcerers, who use traditional medicine and are profound connoisseurs of the use of various plant species for therapeutic purposes.

Adepts of the powerful sorcerer Guibkoudgo Ouidi dance covered in fetishes in the village of Guiba, in the province of Zoundwéogo, where the man lives and plies his trade.

Guibkoudgo Ouidi's hands, with rings indicating his status as a respected and powerful local sorcerer.

In the small rural villages of Burkina Faso, every year dozens of women are threatened with death and driven from their homes because they are accused of beingwitches and voluntarily causing the death of some people. Accusations that very often mask envies and problems of inheritance, especially towards those they are widowed.

One of the women housed in the Safula centre on the outskirts of Ouagadugou, run by local and international NGOs, which gives refuge to people accused of witchcraft and for this reason driven out of the villages and sometimes killed.