"Nearly a hundred civilians, including women and children, are reported to have been killed in a massacre in the village of Zaongo, in the north-central region of Burkina Faso," the EU External Action (EEAS) said in a statement, CNN reported.
Francophone West Africa has for several years been beset by an Islamist insurgency that nations such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have failed to repel, despite international assistance.
"It's about seeing how we can work with Burkina Faso so that the country can get out of this situation," said Botchwey.
Some in Burkina Faso want Russian forces to replace the French ~ as they have in Mali. Demands for a more effective security strategy had built up through last year, and President Kaboré overhauled first his government and then the military command in a bid to regain the political momentum and restore some stability to the battered northern and eastern provinces.
Security in Burkina Faso has worsened since 2015, with terrorist attacks having killed more than 1,000 people and displaced over one million others
Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the conflict, while many more have been forced to flee their homes.
France has deployed more than 5,000 troops to combat jihadist groups in the region -- a largely lawless expanse stretching over Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, where drugs and arms flow through porous borders.
Burkina Faso, one of the world's poorest countries, has battled a jihadist insurgency since 2015.
The assailants attacked a church in the Yagha province of the Sahel region during a religious ceremony.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
