US EditionWest Africa: The Rise of Burkina Faso's Traoré and the Sahel's New Order - Can Ecowas Keep Up?
- Captain Ibrahim Traoré took power in Burkina Faso through a military coup in September 2022, reshaping West Africa's political landscape from Ouagadougou to the Sahel.
- This shift followed a pattern of coups since 2020 amid widespread dissatisfaction caused by electoral fraud, elite enrichment, insecurity, and governance failures in Francophone states.
- Traoré's regime leads the Alliance of Sahel States, rejecting French influence in favor of growing Russian ties, nationalizing mines, and promoting left-wing economic reforms to assert sovereignty.
- The 2025 Global Terrorism Index ranked Burkina Faso as the world’s most terrorism-affected country for the second year, while the IMF noted commendable economic progress despite ongoing security challenges.
- ECOWAS faces an existential dilemma as it risks irrelevance if it fails to adapt engagement strategies toward the popular yet imperfect Sahelian juntas led by Traoré.
33 Articles
33 Articles
Who is this man with a gun in the Kremlin?
"They keep telling me that I will die like Gaddafi, Thomas Sankara or any of the young leaders who tried to improve Africa. I am not afraid and I will not regret dying for my people," is one of the most popular quotes from 37-year-old Ibrahim Traore, the president of Burkina Faso and the "uncrowned" leader of the Pan-African movement, who says he will liberate his country from Western imperialism and neo-colonialism. On Victory Day, he arrived i…
Who is Captain Ibrahim Traoré?
From Samori Touré to Thomas Sankara [left], our ancestors chose resistance. Now, we must choose: either we fight for sovereignty, or we remain slaves to neo-colonialism. — captain Ibrahim Traoré [right], Interview with Radio Omega FM, November 2023 A young, by political standards, military captain, now an acting president has captured widespread admiration in Burkina Faso and across Africa. The legend of Ibrahim Traoré appears to be growing by l…
Orinoco Tribune
The Washington StandardWhy Washington Is Worried About Burkina Faso’s Young Revolutionary Leader
By Alan Macleod – May 7, 2025 Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré is remaking his nation, and in the process, making enemies in the West. Since taking power in 2022, the young military leader has expelled French troops, ejected Western corporations, and aligned his country with Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela. Promoting pan-African unity and national self-reliance while surviving coup attempts, Traoré is positioning himself as a radical anti-imperialist a…
Ibrahim Traoré: Has Africa found a new progressive hero?, By Jibrin Ibrahim
I now know that Africa has been in search for a progressive hero since the passage of the great ones – Nkrumah, Lumumba, Nasser, Nyerere, Mandela, Sankara, etc. I know because of the thoughtless and uninformed speed with which young Africans are going in support of Captain Ibrahim Traoré as the new hero based mainly […] The post Ibrahim Traoré: Has Africa found a new progressive hero?, By Jibrin Ibrahim appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria.
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