Why Burkina Faso’s junta leader has captured hearts and minds aroundthe world

A charismatic 37-year-old, Burkina Faso’s military ruler Capt
Ibrahim Traoré has skilfully built the persona of a
pan-Africanist leader determined to free his nation from what
he regards as the clutches of Western imperialism and
neo-colonialism.

His message has resonated across Africa and beyond, with his
admirers seeing him as following in the footsteps of African
heroes like Burkina Faso’s very own Thomas Sankara – a Marxist
revolutionary who is sometimes referred to as “Africa’s Che
Guevara”.

“Traoré’s impact is huge. I have even heard politicians and
authors in countries like Kenya [in East Africa] say: ‘This is
it. He is the man’,” Beverly Ochieng, a senior researcher at
global consultancy firm Control Risks, told the BBC.
“His messages reflect the age we are living in, when many
Africans are questioning the relationship with the West, and
why there is still so much poverty in such a resource-rich
continent,” she said.

After seizing power in a coup in 2022, Traoré’s regime ditched
former colonial power France in favour of a strong alliance
with Russia, that has included the deployment of a Russian
paramilitary brigade, and adopted left-wing economic policies.
This included setting up a state-owned mining company,
requiring foreign firms to give it a 15% stake in their local
operations and to transfer skills to Burkinabé people.
The rule also applied to Russian miner Nordgold, which was
given a licence in late April for its latest investment in
Burkina Faso’s gold industry.

As part of what Traoré calls a “revolution” to ensure Burkina
Faso benefits from its mineral wealth, the junta is also
building a gold refinery and establishing national gold
reserves for the first time in the nation’s history.

However, Western-owned firms appear to be facing a tough time,
with Australia-headquartered Sarama Resources launching
arbitration proceedings against Burkina Faso in late 2024
following the withdrawal of an exploration licence.
The junta has also nationalised two gold mines previously owned
by a London-listed firm, and said last month that it planned to
take control of more foreign-owned mines.

Enoch Randy Aikins, a researcher at South Africa’s Institute
for Security Studies, told the BBC that Traoré’s radical
reforms had increased his popularity in Africa.
“He is now arguably Africa’s most popular, if not favourite,
president,” Mr Aikins said.
His popularity has been fuelled through social media, including
many misleading posts intended to bolster his revolutionary
image.

AI-generated videos of music stars like R Kelly, Rihanna,
Justin Bieber and Beyoncé are seen immortalising him through
song – though they have done nothing of the sort.
Ms Ochieng said that Traoré first caught the attention of
Africans when he spoke at the Russia-Africa summit in 2023,
telling African leaders to “stop behaving like puppets who
dance every time the imperialists pull the strings”.
This speech was heavily publicised by Russian media, which has
become a major player in promoting Traoré’s pan-Africanist
image.

Traoré attended commemorations in Russia last week to mark the
80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in
World War Two. He posted on X that he, along with military
leaders from neighbouring Mali and Niger, were inspired by it
“to winning the war against terrorism and imperialism at all
costs”.

Thanks to his rhetoric and pushed by a slick social media
campaign, his appeal has spread around the world, including
among African-Americans and Black Britons, Ms Ochieng noted.
“Everyone who has experienced racism, colonialism and slavery
can relate to his messages,” Ms Ochieng said, pointing out that
African-American rapper Meek Mill had posted about him on X
late last year, saying how much he liked his “energy and heart”

• though he was ridiculed for mixing up names by referring to
  Traoré as Burkina Faso and later deleted the post.
  But France’s president is not a fan, describing Traoré as part
  of a “baroque alliance between self-proclaimed pan-Africans and
  neo-imperialists”.
  Emmanuel Macron was also referring to Russia and China whom he
  accused, in a 2023 speech, of provoking coups in Africa’s
  former French colonies, and hypocritically stirring up old
  arguments over sovereignty and colonial exploitation.
  Traoré’s popularity comes even though he has failed to fulfil
  his pledge to quell a 10-year Islamist insurgency that has
  fuelled ethnic divisions and has now spread to once-peaceful
  neighbours like Benin.
  His junta has also cracked down on dissent, including the
  opposition, media and civil society groups and punished
  critics, among them medics and magistrates, by sending them to
  the front lines of the war against the jihadists.
  For Rinaldo Depagne, the Africa deputy director of the
  International Crisis Group think-tank, Traoré commands such
  support because “he is young in a country with a young
  population” – the median age is 17.7 years.
  “He is media-savvy, and uses the past to build his popularity
  as a reincarnation of Sankara,” he told the BBC.
  “And he knows the art of politics – how to make a nation
  completely traumatised by war feel there is a better future. He
  is good at that game.
  Sankara rose to power in a coup in 1983 at the age of 33,
  rallied the nation under the motto “Fatherland or death, we
  will win!”, and was killed four years later in another coup
  that put Burkina Faso back in France’s political orbit until
  Traoré seized power.
  Ghanaian security analyst Prof Kwesi Aning, who previously
  worked at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training
  Centre, said the popularity of the military leader reflected a
  political shift taking place on the continent, especially in
  West Africa.
  “Democracy has failed to give hope to the youth. It has not
  delivered jobs or better education and health,” Prof Aning told
  the BBC.
  He said Traoré was “offering an alternative, and re-capturing
  the spirit of two historic epochs”.
  It was Traoré who stole the show at the inauguration of Ghana’s
  President John Mahama in January. He arrived wearing battle
  fatigues and a pistol in his holster.
  “There were already 21 heads of state there, but when Traoré
  walked in, the place lit up. Even my president’s bodyguards
  were running after him,” Prof Aning said.
  Traoré offered a sharply contrasting image to some of the
  continent’s other leaders, who struggled to walk but clung to
  power by rigging elections, he said.
  “Traoré is stylish and confident, with a very open face and a
  small smile. He is also a powerful orator, and presents himself
  as a man of the people.”
  In a sign that his Russian-allied junta has made some progress
  on the economic front, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  and World Bank have given a generally upbeat assessment.
  In a statement in early April, the IMF said that despite a
  “challenging humanitarian and security” environment, the
  economy was expected to remain “robust” in 2025, and the regime
  had made “commendable progress” in raising domestic revenue,
  containing the public wage bill, and increasing spending on
  education, health and social protection.
  As for the World Bank, it said that inflation had surged from
  0.7% in 2023 to 4.2% in 2024, but the extreme poverty rate,
  which refers to people living on less than $2.15 [£1.61] a day,
  had fallen by almost two percentage points to 24.9% because of
  “robust growth” in the agriculture and services sectors.
  Despite these reports from US-based financial institutions,
  relations with both France and America have been frosty.
  A recent example being the claim by the head of the US Africa
  Command, Gen Michael Langley, that Traoré was using Burkina
  Faso’s gold reserves for his junta’s protection rather than the
  nation’s benefit.
  This appeared to be a reference to the long-standing view of
  the US, and some of its African allies, that Russian forces
  were propping up Traoré in exchange for a stake in Burkina
  Faso’s gold industry – undermining the military ruler’s image
  as a leader who expelled French troops in 2023 to reclaim the
  country’s sovereignty.
  Gen Langley’s comments, made in early April during a US Senate
  committee hearing, triggered an uproar among the captain’s
  supporters, who felt their hero was being smeared.
  This was further inflamed when shortly afterwards, the
  Burkinabé junta said it had foiled a coup plot, alleging the
  plotters were based in neighbouring Ivory Coast – where Gen
  Langley then made a visit.
  Ivory Coast denied being involved in any plot, while the US
  Africa Command said Gen Langley’s visit had focused on
  addressing “common security challenges” – including “violent
  extremism”.
  But the junta took the opportunity to organise one of its
  biggest rallies in Burkina Faso’s capital over fears that
  “imperialists” and their “lackeys” were trying to depose the
  captain.
  “Because Colin Powell lied, Iraq was destroyed. Barack Obama
  lied, Gaddafi was killed. But this time, their lies won’t
  affect us,” one protester, musician Ocibi Johann, told the
  Associated Press news agency.
  Rallies in solidarity with Traoré were also held abroad,
  including in London, on the same day.
  He took to social media afterwards, posting in French and
  English, to express his gratitude to them for sharing his
  vision “for a new Burkina Faso and a new Africa”, adding:
  “Together, in solidarity, we will defeat imperialism and
  neo-colonialism for a free, dignified and sovereign Africa.”
  It is impossible to say how things will end for the young
  captain, but he – along with military leaders in Mali and Niger

• have certainly shaken up West Africa, and other states have
  followed their example by ordering French forces to leave.
  The three military-ruled neighbours have also pulled out of the
  regional trade and security grouping Ecowas, formed their own
  alliance, and have ended free trade in the region by announcing
  the imposition of a 0.5% tariff on goods coming into their
  countries.
  Mr Aikins said Traoré could learn from others, pointing out
  that when Rawlings took power in Ghana at the age of 32, he was
  known as “Junior Jesus” but after 19 years he left a mixed
  legacy – he had been unable to stem corruption despite helping
  to create an “enduring” democracy.
  For a “lasting legacy”, Mr Aikins said, Traoré should focus on
  achieving peace and building strong state institutions to bring
  about good governance rather than “personalising” power and
  cracking down on dissent.-BBC