Latest news with #IbrahimTraoré
Mint
4 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
The coup leader who's become an anti-Western hero in Africa and beyond
Three years ago, Ibrahim Traoré was a junior army officer in Burkina Faso's armed forces. Today, he has emerged as a surprising anti-Western hero preaching self-reliance and resilience with fans across Africa and beyond. Since toppling the West African country's previous military leader in 2022 and making himself president, Traoré has won the kind of glowing admiration from people across the continent that has eluded African leaders since the days of antiapartheid icon Nelson Mandela and the generation that led the independence struggles. 'Many Africans are disillusioned with the West," said Ayotunde Abiodun, an analyst with SBM Intelligence, a Nigeria-based geopolitical research consulting firm. Traoré, he said, has become the anti-imperialist face of that sentiment. Russia has tried to court him, seeing him as a way to accelerate the decline of France's influence across the arid countries of the Sahel, the wide band of land bordering the southern reaches of the Sahara. But Traoré has his own agenda of reviving the Pan-African movements of the past. Whether he succeeds in putting Burkina Faso on a stronger footing and pushing back a long-running Islamist insurgency could influence what happens elsewhere across the region. The 37-year-old appears to be genuinely popular as people across the region tire of a generation of aging leaders widely seen as corrupt and beholden to the West. In April, thousands of Burkina Faso citizens poured into the streets of Ouagadougou, the capital city, in solidarity with Traoré after an alleged counter-counter-coup failed to oust him from office. The protesters were also incensed by comments by Gen. Michael Langley, head of U.S. Africa Command, accusing Traoré of misusing the country's gold reserves. Traoré partisans saw Langley's comments as a pretext for Western intervention, and members of the African diaspora held solidarity marches to show their support for him. In London, Traoré supporters held banners that read, 'Hands off African resources, Hands off Ibrahim Traoré." In Jamaica, demonstrations took place outside the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, and on the north coast in Montego Bay, where protesters sang, played drums and hailed Traoré as a 'Black liberator." Motorized rickshaws, a common mode of transport among working people, display photos of the beret-wearing Traoré in Nairobi, a city on the opposite side of the continent. Part of Traoré's appeal comes from how he styles himself after his countryman and Pan-Africanist leader Thomas Sankara. Often called 'Africa's Che Guevara," Sankara renamed the Republic of the Upper Volta as Burkina Faso, or 'land of the upright people," and set about making the country more self-sufficient before he was assassinated in 1987. In taking a leaf out of his book, Traoré has revived interest in Sankara and his pan-Africanism. Last month, a newspaper published by the Nation of Islam, the Black religious and political movement of Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan, featured side-by-side photos of Traoré and Sankara on its front page. Traoré primarily came to power on a promise to improve security, however. As a captain, he ousted Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had himself overthrown a civilian government eight months earlier. Both Traoré and Damiba had justified their actions by accusing their predecessors of failing to quell dual insurgencies by Islamists affiliated with al Qaeda and Islamic State. Traoré has since surfed a wave of public discontent with France, the former colonial power, whose continued involvement in the political and economic lives of its former West African colonies created resentment, according to analysts. In a popular move, Traoré expelled French troops, who had also been unable to tame the insurgencies. U.S. Green Berets, who had arrived to train local commandos shortly before the coup, suspended military aid after the putsch. Donning the populist mantle, Traoré renegotiated international gold-mining contracts to guarantee the government a greater share of the revenue. He distributed tractors and cheap fertilizer to farmers and built factories, such as a tomato-processing plant and the country's first gold refinery—efforts to keep value-added businesses at home. A survey by Afrobarometer, a Ghana-based pollster, found last year that a majority of Burkina Faso's people supported military rule as the best way to combat corrupt civilian elites. The survey showed that across the continent, more than half of Africans were willing to tolerate military intervention in politics if 'elected leaders abuse power for their own ends." Two-thirds, however, rejected military rule as the default system of government. Analysts say Traoré has gained strong support from the country's rural poor by placing land under state control, nullifying previous land allocations that favored agribusinesses and recognizing customary rights of rural communities. Supporters see the measures as an attempt to undo decades of land policies that favored corporate investors over smallholder farmers, said Burkina Faso analyst Luc Damiba. The new land policies have also gained him favor from young people, who have cheered his promise of land and agricultural training. Analysts say sections of Burkina Faso's urban, educated classes, including academics, journalists and civil‑society activists, worry that Traoré doesn't intend to return the country to elected civilian government. Traoré has postponed elections scheduled for last year until 2029, saying voting will take place when the military has wrestled enough territory from jihadists to allow all citizens to vote. Like the African liberation leaders of the 1960s, Traoré has cozied up to Moscow. Last month, he attended a Moscow parade celebrating the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany. Russia has launched an influence operation in Burkina Faso involving pro-Moscow local radio stations as well as sports and musical events, says the nonprofit African Digital Democracy Observatory. Paid content lauding Traoré also began to appear across pro-Russian social-media platforms after he seized power, according to a 2023 report by the Paris-based watchdog All Eyes on Wagner. 'Allowing Burkinabé to sleep peacefully and live without hunger. These are his ambitions. This man deserves the greatest respect," read a caption on one Traoré portrait. The posts were disseminated widely across the continent by the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary force active in Africa, the watchdog said, though only a fifth of Burkina Faso's population has internet access and only 12% use social media, limiting the domestic influence of online campaigns. Russia has a clear interest in getting on Traoré's good side. Hobbled by Western sanctions, it needs gold to shore up its struggling economy and has expanded its presence around West Africa through resource‑for‑security pacts, providing military trainers, mercenary units and media campaigns in exchange for mining rights. Burkina Faso, a major gold producer, struck a deal with the Russian company Nordgold, which took an 85% stake in a gold-mining project. The government, which retained 15% of the ownership, expects the project to contribute $101 million to its coffers over an eight-year span. However, unlike in countries like Mali or the Central African Republic, where Moscow's mercenaries play a key role in protecting local regimes, Traoré has been reluctant to accept Russian boots on the ground. A 400-strong contingent of Russian mercenaries, who arrived in Ouagadougou with much fanfare last year, departed within three months, according to current and former French and Burkinabé officials. 'Traoré feels the army is the guarantor to preserve his country's sovereignty," said a former minister in the Burkina Faso government. 'Russian mercenaries are not his cup of tea." Traoré's Achilles' heel, however, may be the very issue he used to sell his power grab: security. Violence has gotten worse since the military seized power. More than 17,000 people have been killed in insurgent violence since the takeover—more than triple the death toll from the final three years of civilian rule, according to an analysis by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, part of the Pentagon's National Defense University. The center analyzed data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit monitoring service. In August, jihadists massacred hundreds of villagers in Barsalogho, a remote town in north-central Burkina Faso. Rights groups report that the Burkina Faso military has committed extrajudicial killings and arbitrary detentions during Traoré's time in power, and has used an emergency law to forcibly conscript civilians, including critics and activists, to quell dissent. Burkina Faso officials didn't respond to requests for comment. 'There's a possibility for this symbolism and popular legitimacy that he enjoys right now to erode if there's no improvement in the security situation and economic condition of the Burkina Faso people between now and then," said Abiodun, the Nigeria-based analyst. Write to Caroline Kimeu at and Benoit Faucon at
Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
The Coup Leader Who's Become an Anti-Western Hero in Africa and Beyond
Three years ago, Ibrahim Traoré was a junior army officer in Burkina Faso's armed forces. Today, he has emerged as a surprising anti-Western hero preaching self-reliance and resilience with fans across Africa and beyond. Since toppling the West African country's previous military leader in 2022 and making himself president, Traoré has won the kind of glowing admiration from people across the continent that has eluded African leaders since the days of antiapartheid icon Nelson Mandela and the generation that led the independence struggles.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
AI image does not show French spy caught in Burkina Faso
'French spy has been captured by captain Ibrahim Traoré, president of Burkina Faso,' reads the caption accompanying a TikTok video posted on May 2, 2025. The post was shared more than 2,400 times. The video includes a static image that appears to show Burkina Faso's president standing next to a man wearing an army uniform, who has blood on his face and is holding his hands in the air. Several TikTok users have claimed that the man in the image is a French spy who was caught posing as a journalist by the name of Julien Moreau (seen here and here). This comes several months after four French nationals who had been held in Burkina Faso over espionage accusations were freed following more than a year of detention (archived here). The group was arrested in the capital, Ouagadougou, on December 1, 2023, and presented by the authorities as intelligence agents working for France's Directorate-General for External Security (archived here). They were released in December 2024, with French authorities thanking Morocco for mediation in the case. However, the claim that this image shows a captured French spy is false. A close look at the picture reveals several flaws commonly found in AI-generated images. For example, the writing on the man's army uniform is gibberish; it's not inscribed in French or any real language. Additionally, Traore's hands appear deformed. A reverse image search of the image led to the earliest occurrence of the claim we could find online: a YouTube video posted on May 1, 2025, seen here. In the caption, after a lengthy tale about a French man posing as a journalist who is then publicly confronted by Traore for being a spy, there is a disclaimer. 'This video is a work of fiction inspired by the life of Ibrahim Traoré,' the caption reads. 'The situations and dialogues depicted are entirely fictional.' Subsequent posts circulating on YouTube and TikTok do not contain any such disclaimers, leading users to believe the image and story is real. AFP Fact Check did not find any credible reports by international media on any French journalist being accused of espionage in Burkina Faso in May 2025. Several AI detection tools also considered the image to be AI-generated. Posts shared on social media with a similar claim that a French woman was caught spying in Burkina Faso were previously debunked by Euronews (archived here).
AFP
20-06-2025
- Politics
- AFP
AI image does not show French spy caught in Burkina Faso
'French spy has been captured by captain Ibrahim Traoré, president of Burkina Faso,' reads the caption accompanying a TikTok video posted on May 2, 2025. The post was shared more than 2,400 times. Image Screenshot of the false TikTok post, taken June 16, 2025 The video includes a static image that appears to show Burkina Faso's president standing next to a man wearing an army uniform, who has blood on his face and is holding his hands in the air. Several TikTok users have claimed that the man in the image is a French spy who was caught posing as a journalist by the name of Julien Moreau (seen here and here). This comes several months after four French nationals who had been held in Burkina Faso over espionage accusations were freed following more than a year of detention (archived here). The group was arrested in the capital, Ouagadougou, on December 1, 2023, and presented by the authorities as intelligence agents working for France's Directorate-General for External Security (archived here). They were released in December 2024, with French authorities thanking Morocco for mediation in the case. However, the claim that this image shows a captured French spy is false. AI-generated image A close look at the picture reveals several flaws commonly found in AI-generated images. For example, the writing on the man's army uniform is gibberish; it's not inscribed in French or any real language. Additionally, Traore's hands appear deformed. Image Screenshot of the AI-generated image from TikTok, with visual clues highlighted A reverse image search of the image led to the earliest occurrence of the claim we could find online: a YouTube video posted on May 1, 2025, seen here. In the caption, after a lengthy tale about a French man posing as a journalist who is then publicly confronted by Traore for being a spy, there is a disclaimer. 'This video is a work of fiction inspired by the life of Ibrahim Traoré,' the caption reads. 'The situations and dialogues depicted are entirely fictional.' Subsequent posts circulating on YouTube and TikTok do not contain any such disclaimers, leading users to believe the image and story is real. AFP Fact Check did not find any credible reports by international media on any French journalist being accused of espionage in Burkina Faso in May 2025. Several AI detection tools also considered the image to be AI-generated. Posts shared on social media with a similar claim that a French woman was caught spying in Burkina Faso were previously debunked by Euronews (archived here).
Business Insider
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Insider
Despite Burkina Faso's headstrong stance, some African countries still want to remain friends
Lieutenant-Colonel Ibrahim Traoré, the junta leader of Burkina Faso, received Tete António, the Special Envoy of the African Union (AU) Chairperson, Angolan President João Lourenço, in the country's capital of Ouagadougou on June 17, 2025. Lieutenant-Colonel Ibrahim Traoré met Tete António, AU's Envoy, in Ouagadougou to strengthen unity amid Sahel security threats. The AU's visit symbolizes its shift towards actionable engagement, aiming to support susceptible member states facing insurgencies. Discussions between the AU delegation and local officials focused on issues of security and humanitarian challenges. Tete issued a message from the current chair of the AU, Angolan President João Lourenço. The goal of António's visit is to strengthen continental unity with Burkina Faso in the face of growing Sahelian security threats. The delegation was described as a listening mission: "to see what collective paths we can take as Africans to find solutions." His visit symbolizes the AU's transition from declarations to engagement, indicating a readiness to assist vulnerable member states facing Islamist insurgencies. António said that the AU "will not remain indifferent" to the deepening crisis, emphasizing the notion of continental responsibility. The AU delegation met with Traoré and local officials to discuss security and humanitarian issues, as reported by Sputnik. The conclusion is likely to direct coordinated AU support, which may include logistics, peacekeeping, information sharing, and humanitarian supplies. This move mirrors a recent one made by the Nigerian government, which allowed the country to present an olive branch to the defected state. Burkina Faso, which is one-third of the three countries that recently exited its former regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), was offered a diplomatic overture alongside Mali and Niger for the re-estblishment of a working relationship with Nigeria. During a news conference in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Monday, Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar disclosed the intent, demonstrating the country's determination to continue promoting regional cooperation within the ECOWAS framework in spite of persistent political divisions. Nigeria sees the three nations as essential partners in West Africa's economic destiny, notwithstanding their official withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States, Tuggar underlined. He pointed out that political differences shouldn't stop regional growth, especially when common issues like infrastructure, trade, and security cut beyond institutional boundaries. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger's self-wiled stance In a remarkable turn that has reshaped West Africa's geopolitical landscape, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have formally withdrawn from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), signaling a profound break not just from the regional bloc, but also from long-standing Western alliances. The three Sahelian nations grappling with terrorism, underdevelopment, and political instability have increasingly expressed frustration with what they view as ECOWAS's ineffectiveness and bias, especially after the bloc imposed sanctions following recent coups. The military juntas leading these countries have made it clear: their priorities are internal stability, security control, and economic self-determination, not appeasing Western capitals or complying with ECOWAS timelines for a return to civilian rule. Mali and Burkina Faso, for instance, expelled French troops and suspended military cooperation with former Western allies, turning instead to new partners like Russia. Niger, following the 2023 coup, followed a similar trajectory by rejecting French military presence and forming a security alliance with its Sahel neighbors.
