In Burkina Faso, voters left voiceless amid escalating violence

Maiga Radiatou, 21, who fled from attacks of armed militants in Sahel region of Soum and who will not be able to vote in Burkina Faso's presidential election on Sunday carries her seven months daughter Sameuna as she stands at a courtyard of the house in an informal camp for displaced people on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso November 19, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Djeneba Sawadogo was making a cake when she heard a noise she did not recognise - a series of sharp cracks that rang across the village of Tongomayel in northern Burkina Faso in June 2019.

A dozen gunmen had opened fire, killing her friends and neighbours and forcing the survivors to flee south. In the rush, Sawadogo left behind her identity card, which would have allowed her to vote in Sunday's legislative and presidential elections.