Burkina Faso: The West African Dictatorship That Loves Russia.

Once a relatively stable West African state, Burkina Faso has in recent years fallen into a quagmire of violence that it just can’t seem to escape from. The nation known in the past for its strong African pride is in total chaos, as one of the world’s fastest growing radical Islamic insurgencies ravages the country, leaving millions displaced and tens of thousands dead.

Burkina Faso is a hot mess right now. It had two coups in a single year in 2022. A military captain in his mid-30s is currently running the country. Russian flags fly in the capital. And amongst it all is a proud and brave people doing what they can and that will not go quietly.

So what has pushed the country to the edge of collapse? How did a promise from 40 years ago start a new wave revolution in the 2020s? And why are AI videos of Beyonce singing about the leader all over the internet?

Welcome to a nation that simply refuses to play by the established rules. This is the story of Burkina Faso. What it is, what it once hoped to be, how it all fell apart, the man promising to fix it, and whether that promise is really working.

The Land of Upright People

So, what is there to know about Burkina Faso?

Well it’s located in the Western part of the narrow band that crosses Africa known to many as the Sahel. It perches on top of Ghana like the tip of a mushroom, and going clockwise from there it borders the Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Benin, and Togo. And one thing you need to know is that this is not an easy part of the world to live in right now.

Overall Burkina Faso is 274,200 square kilometres in size, that’s around 105,000 square miles, making it a little bigger than the great state of Michigan. But they don’t have lame names for their cities like “Detroit” and “Marquette,” here we have cool names like the capital of Ouagadougou and the nation’s second city, Bobo-Dioulasso. Today this country that houses around 24.4 million people (and rising) used to be known in colonial times as Upper Volta, because it was the area north of the small southeastern Ghanaian region of Volta and its river, which was also creatively named… the Volta.

Just like pretty much everywhere in Africa, Burkina Faso is a patchwork of differing ethnicities, religions, and languages. Mooré is spoken by about 52.5% of the population – a little over 12 million people – whilst the Francophone population sits around 22.8%, equating to around 5.5 million. Other languages include Bobo, Samo, Marka, and Fulani, which is used as a lingua franca… which is kind of ironic in a country where French is already spoken, but there’s probably a reason for that which we’ll get to later.

You see the citizens of Burkina Faso – also known as the Burkinabe – are a fiercely independent and proud people. In fact Burkina Faso literally means “land of the upright people.” They’re also a young people, and we mean that in more ways than one. The country only gained its independence in 1960, the average life expectancy is just over 60, and the median age in the country is 18. Burkina Faso has one of the youngest populations on the planet today.

As a nation it’s also growing in both financial and population terms. From a GDP perspective, Burkina Faso – for all its chaos over the years – has almost never failed to grow economically. Since 1980, the nation has only experienced three years of negative economic growth, and most years it experiences a significant GDP percentage rise of around 5% – with some years as high as 11%.

GDP per capita is 3.29 times higher than it was in 1980, and the country even has the largest gold reserves in all of Africa. Burkina Faso is Africa’s fourth largest gold producer too, churning more than 57 tons of the stuff in 2023, and nationalisation efforts are ongoing to ensure that natural wealth stays in the country.

And that’s important, because Burkina Faso is a country that is rich in gold and poor in basically everything else. Over 41% of Burkinabe citizens still live below the national poverty line even though it represents a huge drop from almost 88% in the late 1990s. The economy is vulnerable to economic shocks because overwhelmingly its main exports are cotton and gold. Just under half the population don’t have access to clean water, only 21.7% of people had access to electricity in 2023, and there are only 1.46 doctors per 10,000 people.

The reality is that living in Burkina Faso today for a lot of people is desperately hard, and it’s not just due to the poverty or lack of services. The country is at war.

A radical Islamic jihadist insurgency has been raging in the nation since the mid-2010s which has only continued to grow with time. As of 2026 the recognised government has control of less than half the country. The insurgency has curbed media access and government restrictions have made the crisis even harder to get information about. The result is displacement, violence, death, and fear.

So the question then is just how did we end up here? Well to understand where Burkina Faso is and where it’s going, we need to look at where it has been.

Speedrunning African History

Burkina Faso’s history – just like many countries across the world but certainly in Africa – goes back many thousands of years to the formation of early agricultural settlements. Now, as per most historical overviews when a country has thousands of years of history to unpack, we’re going to be glossing over a lot of really interesting pre-colonial history.

The Bura culture was an Iron Age civilisation centred on the lower Niger River valley in what is now Niger and Burkina Faso from roughly the 3rd to the 13th centuries. Around 1000 AD the Mossi kingdoms – also known as the Mossi empire – would first establish themselves here. They were a group of kingdoms within modern day Burkina Faso that dominated the upper Volta river region.

The largest Mossi kingdom was called Ouagadougou, which the observant among you will remember is the name of the nation’s modern capital. The Mossi kingdoms lasted for around 900 years, with significant connections to the Mali empire, as well as the Fula kingdoms (which were jihadist kingdoms that first emerged in the 18th century) – this is where the Fulani language emerged that is the lingua franca in Burkina Faso today, and the Fulani people are a significant ethnic group within the country. The Mossi kingdoms would last until the late 1890s when that great spectre of European colonialism would arrive on the back of French warships.

In 1884 at the Berlin conference, the European nations had divided up Africa during the infamous scramble for the continent, and within just a few decades what was an incredibly complex and varied system of tribes and alliances across the continent would be reduced to mostly European territory enforced at the barrel of a gun.

The French would come out of the scramble particularly strongly, establishing colonies in the territory that currently makes up the nations of: Benin, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Djibouti, Madagascar, most of Chad, most of the Central African Republic, most of the Republic of Congo, most of Gabon, some of Libya, some of Morocco, and of course Burkina Faso. They would also add Togo and Cameroon after the German defeat in World War One led to a colony transfer, which meant French colonies made up almost 40% of Africa’s landmass in the early 20th century.

Burkina Faso had been invaded and made a French protectorate in 1898, but it wasn’t a standalone region yet, more of a combined one with the territories of upper Senegal and Niger. However that didn’t mean that there weren’t people who lived here who were fiercely protective of their home and didn’t take kindly to European settlers siphoning money and resources out of it. From 1915 to 1917 an anti-colonial rebellion in modern Burkina Faso and Mali took place called the Volta-Bani War. Despite the African forces mustering up to 20,000 fighters at its peak and winning initial engagements, it would eventually be crushed under the boot of French munitions.

But it wasn’t all bad though, in 1919 French Upper Volta was officially created which established the territory which would go on to be modern Burkina Faso, although the borders were a bit different. For all intents and purposes this is where Upper Volta began and thus Burkina Faso’s path to statehood. Unfortunately the region – which was created for various economic reasons – failed to thrive, and after failed attempts to promote cotton as an export crop, Upper Volta was officially dissolved in 1932.

However do not despair, as World War Two’s aftermath would see Upper Volta revived in 1947 following post-war anti-colonial movements. Not only would this officially establish the modern borders of Burkina Faso, but it would also be the second time that the future Burkinabe would try to take hold of their own destiny, which was an important founding ethos of the state. Independence, sovereignty, self-reliance.

These were the founding pillars on which a national identity would soon sit.

By 1958, Upper Volta gained self-governance status and joined the Franco-African Community, fully gaining its independence in 1960. Which is kind of wild when you think about it. It’s like Burkina Faso was going for the “any percent” speedrun record for getting colonised, going from pre-colonial to colonial to post-colonial in just 62 years, less than a single lifetime.

Compare that to another African nation like Cape Verde which the Portuguese had held for half a millennia whilst other future nations were serving as colonies for hundreds of years. But that actually really matters for the Burkinabe, where some still remembered pre-colonial times during the French occupation. This helped reinforce that fiercely independent mindset, because as far as the people who lived here were concerned, French colonisation was just the most recent speck on a lengthy timeline.

So then, 1960. A glistening wave of independence has swept over the Upper Volta. From here it would be nothing but smooth sailing, right?

Well actually… no.

Because remember when we said Burkina Faso was speedrunning colonialism? It also decided it wasn’t hanging around much in the post-colonial period either. And soon all the realities of hard-fought independence were coming to the fore. In 1960, Maurice Yaméogo was made the new president of Upper Volta which was set to be a democratic state.

However the country soon devolved into one party rule, dictatorship, and corruption. There’s a lot more to it than just that, but long story short, Upper Volta would experience what we’re calling “Coup Number One” by 1966 (hint, there will be more) and this ended the nation’s speed-date with civilian rule. The army took over, forming a military government under the control of Lieutenant Colonel Sangoulé Lamizana and the constitution was suspended.

The nation would live under this military rule for the next decade, but in 1976 a new constitution was brought forward to re-establish civilian governance following a four-year transition period. Lamizana remained, being re-elected as Upper Volta President in 1978. But you should know by now that in 20th century post-colonial Africa the average term of an elected president was about five minutes, and in 1980 “Coup Number Two” would come.

Actually it makes sense to call it coup number two because it was a bit shit. The incredibly unimpressed looking Colonel Saye Zerbo overthrew Lamizana in a bloodless coup that re-established military junta rule over the country.

And that’s all we have to say about him because he was almost immediately ousted in 1982 during “Coup Number Three.” Zerbo was overthrown by Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo and the Council of Popular Salvation (which sounds like the name of an excellent folk band from the 60s). But instead of bringing the country together, all it really did was usher in an era of power struggles and political unrest. Such instability had the nation at a fever pitch.

This new country had had three coups in six years. Someone needed to take the reins, someone with bold new ideas about Upper Volta and its place in the world.

Someone like Thomas Sankara.

And with “Coup Number Four” taking place a year later in 1983, that’s exactly what happened.

Sankara was not even a senior officer in the army, at the junior rank of Captain and at a mere 33 years old, he became one of the youngest leaders in the entire world. He had been made President in 1983 but disputes amongst the power structure led to his house arrest, at which point a coup was organised on his behalf.

Sankara was a revolutionary in every sense of the word. Between his red military beret being permanently glued to his scalp and his pan-African, Marxist, anti-imperialist stance, he commanded attention, and as a result many saw him as something akin to Africa’s Che Guevara. Sankara’s rule would usher in an unprecedented series of social, ecological, and economic reforms that were part of what he referred to as the “people’s democratic revolution” (although to be frank it was about as democratic as a ham sandwich.)

Still what it certainly was, was a revolution for the people. His government would prioritise public health, anti-corruption efforts, education, women’s rights, and economic self-reliance. This is one of those rare instances of an undemocratic leader who chooses to try and lift the nation up instead of robbing it blind.

And to a people who had faced little other than corrupt instability and colonialism with extra steps since independence, it’s easy to see why he was popular.

For one, the man lived and breathed Burkina Faso. Sankara was the one who renamed the country Burkina Faso in 1984, and he even personally wrote the national anthem. Many of his policy choices were extremely popular and genuinely positive for the nation. He sold the government’s fleet of luxury cars and reduced ministers’ salaries across the board including his own.

He initiated a nation-wide literacy campaign, increasing the literacy rate from 13% in 1983 to 73% in just four years. He started an initiative that planted 10 million trees in the nation to help stave off desertification, and he introduced widespread vaccination campaigns significantly lowering child mortality. He also banned female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and polygamy, championing women’s rights as crucial to the overall revolution. He stated that:

“Comrades, there is no true social revolution without the liberation of women.”

Supporters largely remember the era as a bold attempt to empower ordinary Burkinabè and a break from colonial dependency. This is everything the country had always wanted. A country run by Africans, for Africans.

But Sankara had his downsides too. History might sand off the sharper edges of political figures over time, but some of his actions were questionable at best, and illegal at worst. Because he was a fierce anti-imperialist, Sankara refused all foreign aid to enter Burkina Faso, including financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund. Sankara’s reasoning for this was that supranational organisations like the IMF are little more than colonialism in disguise.

In one sense he is right, foreign aid is used all the time to prop up a meagre existence for citizens whilst corrupt politicians had their noses in the trough, but Sankara wasn’t corrupt, and some of that money could have really helped a lot of Burkinabe. But he was wary of an African nation owing anything to anyone, even if it meant greater poverty for his citizens now. He is reported to have said:

“He who feeds you, controls you.”

And that pretty much gets the sentiment across. Sankara also had more authoritarian tendencies, including political repression, revolutionary tribunals, and arbitrary detention of political opponents. For all the good Sankara did for his nation in a short time (and there was a lot of it), we shouldn’t forget the brutality either.

Ultimately his reign would be cut short by “Coup Number Five” in 1987 where he would be killed. The coup was organised by Blaise Compaoré (who helped organise the 1983 coup that brought Sankara to power in the first place) claiming Sankara had hurt the nation’s economy and foreign relations. Compaoré’s rule was a more stable one, but not a better one, reversing Sankara’s economic policies and building a more conventional African state backed by Western donors.

He would remain in power for the next 27 years, even surviving a few coup attempts along the way. He held elections in 1990, allowed political parties to return, and introduced new democratic reforms, but his elections were not free or fair, and with his thumb on the scale people boycotted it. The Burkinabe spirit would show itself again in 1998 though, when after the state’s extrajudicial killing of journalist Norbert Zongo, tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets in protest.

Compaoré relented by adding term limits to the constitution. He would give up further concessions after more unrest in 2011. His power was waning.

In 2014 he tried to do something about that, which backfired immediately. You remember those term limits he introduced? Yeah those pesky things were getting in the way of Compaoré becoming president for life, and so when he tried to get rid of them, a popular uprising ensued that quickly turned into a revolution, which also sort of counts as “Coup Number Six.” The country’s national assembly building was burned and looted by protesters.

And soon, a transitional government paved the way for democratic renewal. This was one of the first glimmers of hope that the Burkinabe had since Sankara was in charge. This revolution was justice for his murder, and the murder of Norbert Zongo. It was Sankara who called the country the land of the upright people.

Well here were the people standing upright, and they were taking it back.

But they weren’t the only ones who wanted it. At the same time in 2015, a radical jihadist insurgency that had been spreading through the Maghreb reached Burkina Faso. They were affiliated with the likes of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, so let’s just say they weren’t “everyone hold hands and just get along” types of people. The first attack was on a gendarmerie that year. It wouldn’t be the last.

Meanwhile the transitionary council was facing its own internal crisis, as the infamous Presidential Security Regiment (the armed wing of ex-president Compaoré’s regime) interrupted a government council meeting and took the transitionary government hostage. On national television a spokesman declared a coup, dissolved the government and the parliament, and removed the president. But the Burkinabe’s indomitable spirit rose again to meet the challenge.

Crowds reacted with anger, broadly mobilising and launching a general strike that paralysed the country. The regular army sided with the people, and the coup was thwarted. By the end of 2015 genuine democratic presidential and legislative elections took place in which Roch Marc Christian Kaboré became president.

Under Kaboré’s government things started to improve in some areas, the number of paved roads in the country increased by over 25%, and free healthcare for children up to five years old was implemented.

But there was a jihadist insurgency-shaped elephant in the room, which was getting worse. The nation had been relatively stable for the last three decades under Compaoré, so nobody expected it when in 2016 the insurgency struck right in the heart of the nation. Ouagadougou.

Specifically the Splendid Hotel and Cappuccino restaurant. 28 people were killed, and 56 were wounded in the siege. Come 2018 and there was an attack on a French embassy as well as a military HQ. By 2019, the insurgency was starting to get out of control in Burkina Faso, spreading from the north of the nation to the east.

Al-Qaeda, ISIS, homegrown terror cells, militias, and rebel groups were all fighting and wrestling for control of the nation. After all, those gold mines would make a worthy prize for any warlord. In the five years before Kaboré came to power, Burkina Faso saw just 55 fatalities related to conflict.

In the five years after there were 4,939, which is an increase of almost 9,000 PERCENT. By 2022 the number of killed hit 10,000. Two million people, just under 10% of the country’s population were displaced.

Famine was growing, massacres were common. Atrocities in the countryside terrorised the locals and terrified those in the cities that they would be next. The government was losing its grip on the country; it couldn’t even hold voter registration in more than 17% of the nation’s municipalities.

Burkina Faso was burning. On its knees. Just like it was 40 years prior. Back then someone like Thomas Sankara was able to step through the chaos and be the light in the dark that the Burkinabe needed. But who would lead them now?

Well let’s introduce you to “Coup Number Seven.” In January of 2022, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba seized power, deposing President Kaboré. And to be honest that’s all you need to know about him because he was unable to deal with the insurgency. I’m sure you can tell what’s coming next.

Magic “Coup Number Eight” arrived – the rarely seen double coup in a single year. A quite impressive feat for any country. The successive coups ousting the democratically elected government – even in the midst of the impending military crisis – got Burkina Faso kicked out of the African Union, and they left the regional ECOWAS group after getting sanctioned.

So then, who was going to take charge of the nation? Who would be the hero that Burkina Faso needed in its darkest hour?

… Nostalgia is a hell of a drug isn’t it?

The (Other) Man in the Beret

Enter Captain Ibrahim Traoré. Just 34 years old when he came to power in 2022, and doesn’t that beret look familiar? Never takes it off.

As you might be able to tell, Traoré is no regular military strongman. He either is a genuine Sankara acolyte despite being born after Sankara’s death, or as a young military captain, he was smart enough to connect himself to the most popular leader that Burkina Faso has ever had. It would be a bit like in 30 years if a loud, fake-tanned gameshow host called Ronald Grump ran for President… minus the popular part I suppose.

But he was also smart to not only mirror both Sankara’s look and rise to power, but also his policies too. Traoré (or Sankara 2.0 if you prefer) has a fierce anti-western and anti-imperialist stance, go figure. And much like his predecessor he’s willing to take bold action on his principles. He ended pretty much all cooperation with France, including expelling French troops from the country in 2023.

Instead Traoré chose the regional powers of Mali and Niger to ally with. Together the three nations left the ECOWAS regional bloc and the G5 Sahel security alliance. And to be honest we can understand that second one because the words “Sahel security alliance” sounds as effective as the “Vacuum Cleaners for Chernobyl Association.” Have you seen the Sahel lately?

It’s not helping.

Traoré has also cultivated a new relationship for the nation – Russia – as evidenced by pictures of Traoré towering over diminutive KGB manlet Vladimir Putin when they met. This alliance is somewhat logical if you consider the pseudo-Marxist ideology of Sankara, Russia’s growing presence in Africa, and the deep animosity for France that drives Traoré’s contemporary anti-western views. Instead of French troops, Russian Wagner mercenaries would help out Burkinabe forces in the region.

Initially the government denied it was hiring Wagner mercenaries to try and take back control of large proportions of the country. Wagner were already in Mali and Niger at the time before the organisation was subsumed into the Russian armed forces. Since though, Traoré has stated that Russian instructors will train its soldiers, and that Russian troops could be deployed to help quell the insurgency if required.

Because nothing screams anti-imperialist like needing a foreign superpower’s troops to fight your enemies.

Traoré first started to catch the attention of other African citizens when he spoke at the Russia-Africa summit in 2023. In the speech he was critical of Africa’s leaders, telling them to:

”… stop behaving like puppets who dance every time the imperialists pull the strings.”

Of course Moscow loves that kind of political rhetoric because it plays into its own narratives of anti-westernism, even if they are in part trying to impose their own imperialism on the likes of Georgia and Ukraine, among others. But Traoré didn’t care, his beef wasn’t with Russia it was with the west, and could you blame him? For pan-Africanists like Traoré, for centuries western countries and companies had arrived on Africa’s shores pilfering its people, plundering its profits, and propping up politicians so corrupt that if integrity was the national currency they couldn’t afford a bus ticket.

From that perspective, anything looks better than a western alliance that seems to have a vested interest in keeping Africa poor. African people have for the most part watched the ill-gotten gains of elites that came with western foreign investment. All that money gets spent, all those resources mined out of the ground, and Africa is still desperately poor.

The west isn’t helping them, if anything it was still stealing from them. And so a strange bedfellow in Moscow was found, and a voice for that anger was found in Traoré.

Traoré even attended commemorations in Russia in 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two amongst a bunch of other world leaders. I told you he never takes the beret off. He would later post on X that he – along with military leaders from neighbouring Mali and Niger – were inspired by it to combat terrorism and imperialism on their home soil. Geopolitics creates some interesting crossovers sometimes, but a pan-Africanist Russophile is definitely one that I’m certain not many had on their bingo card back in 2022 when assessing who might be next to take over.

And you know what?

Traoré is extremely popular, not just in his own country, but across Africa and even in certain African expat communities across the world. He is the one who has spearheaded the ongoing nationalisation campaign of the nation’s gold mines and its burgeoning gold reserve. For Traoré it’s crucial that Burkina Faso starts to see benefits from the immense material wealth that it has.

Traoré has set up a state-owned mining company and requires foreign firms to both give it a 15% stake in their local operations and to transfer skills to Burkinabé people. This rule even applies for the Russian company Nordgold which was granted a fat new contract and mining license after Traoré came to power.

Traoré has another thing going for him, the narrative. As a young leader of an extremely young country, he more than most knows the power that social media can have on shifting public narratives. Remember Traoré only got the support to launch his coup because of the purported inability of five-second-president Damiba to deal with the continuing Islamist insurgency.

Traoré needs to make sure he’s not deposed the same way, and a key way to stay in power even in difficult military circumstances is popular support. We’ve seen how coups can fail if the population rises up, Burkina Faso itself from 2015 is an excellent example. That also tells us that the Burkinabe spirit – as positive as it is – can be used as a political weapon to keep Traoré in power.

One key way of keeping that support is through slick social media campaigns. Pages like “Traoré Vision” or “Traoré Builds Africa” promote a charismatic leader who is “shocking the West” and pursuing “secret masterplan” to transform Burkina Faso into a pan-African economic powerhouse. Secret master plans that only these highly publicised social media accounts seem to know about. How weird.

Meanwhile AI-generated videos of music stars like R Kelly, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Beyoncé are seen immortalising him through song. Although I’d be careful on the R Kelly endorsement next time Ibrahim. But its not all silly celebrity AI slop. AI-generated images have also depicted mass fictional demonstrations in Nairobi, Harare, Kampala and even New York’s Times Square in support for the Traoré regime.

That has the potential to be genuinely dangerous if deployed at the wrong moment.

His appeal is even still growing, including among Afro-Caribbean citizens of western nations. According to Beverly Ochieng, a senior researcher at global consultancy firm Control Risks, Traoré has captured the revolutionary pan-Africanist zeitgeist, stating:

“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’. 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.”

And yet… it’s not all rosy for Traoré. Naturally French President Macron isn’t keen, describing Traoré as a:

”… baroque alliance between self-proclaimed pan-Africans and neo-imperialists.”

He’s referring to China and Russia here who both are heavily invested in influencing Africa. Traoré must know that Moscow and Beijing see his regime as an alliance of convenience in a geopolitically important region, but Ouagadougou has put a lot of eggs in the Russia basket. The insurgency isn’t going overly well, maybe dispelling those French troops was a bad idea practically even if it aligned politically.

Russia’s ability to actually support Burkina Faso is waning by the day as Ukraine and Russia grind each other down to powder in Europe. It would be interesting to know Traoré’s opinions on the Africans who have been kidnapped by Russia through fake job offers and pressganged into military service. Naturally it could cause tensions between the nations, after all the only thing they have in common is their hatred of the west.

The nation’s focus on Traoré through social media is largely a distraction from the insurgency continuing to get worse, like a band-aid stuck over the bleeding stump of a traumatic amputation. You can only hide that kind of thing from your citizens for so long, and people might start to feel differently about his junta if bullets start flying in their home towns. Although some assert that this new social media strategy effectively recruits citizens themselves to police and spread propaganda both online and in person. Justin Yarga, an exiled Burkinabe journalist based in Sweden stated that:

“I remember people responding to our investigation by saying, ‘We don’t care—even if it’s propaganda. All that matters is that they’re [meaning Traoré’s government] right about France.’”

Traoré has to be careful, because he came to power on the assumption and vow that he would end the insurgency and end it quickly. He promised sure defeat for the jihadists within six months and elections within a year. None of that happened, but that’s hardly surprising, this is bigger than Traoré.

All across the Sahel and Maghreb jihadist violence is on the rise. Of course Traoré knew that being a military man, but it sounded good on TV – perhaps he just didn’t think ahead to what might happen if he overpromised and underdelivered. Six months after taking control he stated that elections were not a priority for the country.

Understandable with a war on your front porch, but Traoré’s authoritarian tendencies paint a stark picture about the direction Burkina Faso is going. Under certain laws passed by the Traoré regime, the government is now able to strip Burkinabe citizenship from individuals who publicly criticize the President. But that’s not going to help him if he can’t get the damn insurgency under control.

Traoré might be a charismatic and principled leader – at least on the surface – but this game isn’t really about leaders. It’s about building institutions of accountability and finding the right balance of power, even among military juntas or dictatorships in order to make the country secure. So for all of the positives people can ascribe to Traoré, if the situation gets bad enough we may well see “Coup Number Nine” soon enough.

So given all of that then, how is Burkina Faso doing today?

Let’s just say … not great.

The Basket Case of West Africa

According to Paul Melly, an expert on the Sahel region at geopolitical thinktank Chatham House, an estimated 70% of the country under the control of armed groups, terrorists, radical Islamists, militias, and more. At least that was the assessment as of late 2025. Other firms put the number closer to 60% but either way the majority of the country is just straight up out of the government’s control, which of course doesn’t bode overly well for Traoré given his promises.

Burkina Faso now represents the epicentre of a wider Islamic jihadist problem that currently exists in West Africa. But just how this conflict is bigger than Traoré, it’s bigger than the nation itself as well, and that’s kind of a problem. Jihadists can move across borders from one nation to another when things get dicey, and without sufficient cross-border security arrangements this will forever be a never-ending game of whack-a-mole – just with fewer high scores and more vests rigged with Semtex.

Large swathes of the country are totally cut off right now, which effectively leaves the citizens to fend for themselves, and whilst the Burkinabe have spirit, unfortunately they lose more fights than they win and it’s not close. On August the 24th 2024, militants attacked the northern town of Barsalogho, killing hundreds of civilians, it’s just one massacre of many. Not even NGOs can get access to some areas and only military aid can reach a few villages sparingly.

Others get nothing and end up getting slaughtered by the Islamists all the same. Food insecurity is rising; millions have been displaced amounting to a little under 10% of the population and to be honest it’s a miracle that number isn’t higher.

When its not the jihadists killing civilians though the government seems to be able to step in and fulfil that role just fine. International human rights groups as well as the European Union and UN have accused Burkina Faso of serious human rights violations, including the indiscriminate killings and forced disappearances of dozens of civilians. Some civilians have started joining citizens militias known as the VDP or Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland. They do what they can, but their training is minimal and because they’re not soldiers they’re naturally undisciplined, it also further blurs the already hazy lines between combatant and civilian that exists here.

And to be honest all of this is a deeply embarrassing crisis for Ouagadougou that they simply can’t seem to handle. And so in the absence of being able to deal with the insurgency, Burkina Faso has also started to see a major free press crackdown. In 2022 for example Burkina Faso suspended French broadcaster Radio France International and later France 24, whilst journalists for the French newspapers Le Monde and Liberation were expelled from the country.

But its not just French media getting the chop here. Despite the free press being described as “robust” in Burkina Faso, in April of 2024, the country suspended a group of foreign media outlets – including the BBC – over their coverage of a report accusing the Burkinabè army of killing 223 civilians. Because nothing says Pan-Africanism like an African nation needlessly causing the deaths of its own citizens.

Meanwhile some outspoken critics of the government have been sent to the front lines to go fight the jihadists. Dissent is increasingly not tolerated within the country as Traoré’s digital cult of personality continues to grow. On social media valid critical questions asked about Traoré and his leadership are shouted down, seen as damn near sacrilege even at a time of great national uncertainty.

Ultimately the state eventually won’t even need to censor the media anymore if Burkinabe citizens can just do it for them.

Political parties are still outlawed as of 2026 and of course until the fighting is under control there are slim chances of any elections any time soon. Russia is still playing its part from the shadows with security cooperation, military training and a healthy dose of Russian propaganda to help launder the country’s image. Russian-linked forces are present across the region, but they don’t seem to be making much of a military dent anywhere at the moment, let alone here.

So as we see the nation descend into chaos, its poignant to remember what’s important. Burkina Faso is a proud place filled with a proud people, who time after time have chosen to stand up for themselves when faced with overwhelming systemic corruption, military dictatorships, and the hardships of African history. Where the country goes from here is anybody’s guess.

Complete collapse? Consolidation and a military victory? Another coup?

Let’s be honest it’ll probably be another coup. But anything’s possible. Here’s hoping that somehow Burkina Faso, this beautiful country that is only capable of doing anything at breakneck speeds, can one day reach a peaceful, sustained, and democratic political future.

It’s the least the Burkinabe deserve. But to do that the fighting and the bloodshed has to be ended. Not delayed, not turned back, ended.

Because if it doesn’t, then the pan-African dream revived for the modern day will become a living nightmare very quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Burkina Faso mean and why is it significant?

Burkina Faso literally means ‘land of the upright people.’ It was renamed from Upper Volta by Thomas Sankara in 1984, and the name reflects the fiercely independent and proud nature of the Burkinabe people.

How many coups has Burkina Faso experienced since independence?

According to the article, Burkina Faso has experienced at least eight coups since independence in 1960, with two coups occurring in a single year in 2022. The article also suggests a potential ‘Coup Number Nine’ could occur if conditions worsen.

Who is Ibrahim Traore and how did he come to power?

Ibrahim Traore is a military captain who came to power in 2022 at age 34 through ‘Coup Number Eight,’ ousting Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Traore launched his coup due to Damiba’s purported inability to deal with the continuing Islamist insurgency.

What is the current security situation in Burkina Faso?

As of late 2025, an estimated 60-70% of Burkina Faso is under the control of armed groups, terrorists, radical Islamists, and militias. The country represents the epicentre of a wider Islamic jihadist problem in West Africa, with millions displaced and frequent massacres occurring.

How has Ibrahim Traore’s government approached foreign relations differently from previous governments?

Traore ended almost all cooperation with France, including expelling French troops in 2023, and instead allied with Mali, Niger, and Russia. He left the ECOWAS regional bloc and the G5 Sahel security alliance, and has cultivated a relationship with Russia including Russian military instructors and potential troop deployments.

What social media strategies has the Traore regime used to maintain popularity?

The Traore regime uses slick social media campaigns through pages like ‘Traore Vision’ and ‘Traore Builds Africa,’ promotes AI-generated videos of music stars like Beyoncé and Rihanna singing about him, and has deployed AI-generated images depicting fictional demonstrations of international support. These campaigns promote him as ‘shocking the West’ and pursuing a ‘secret masterplan’ to transform Burkina Faso.

What were some of Thomas Sankara’s key reforms and policies?

Sankara initiated widespread reforms including: selling government luxury cars and reducing minister salaries; a nationwide literacy campaign that increased literacy from 13% to 73% in four years; planting 10 million trees to combat desertification; widespread vaccination campaigns; banning female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and polygamy; and pursuing economic self-reliance while refusing all foreign aid including from the IMF.

What is the status of political parties and elections in Burkina Faso as of 2026?

As of 2026, political parties are outlawed in Burkina Faso. Traore had promised elections within a year of taking power but later stated elections were not a priority. The article notes there are slim chances of elections anytime soon until the fighting is under control.

What human rights concerns have been raised about the Traore regime?

International human rights groups, the EU, and UN have accused Burkina Faso of serious human rights violations including indiscriminate killings and forced disappearances of civilians. The government can strip citizenship from individuals who publicly criticize the President, some critics have been sent to front lines to fight jihadists, and there has been a major crackdown on free press including suspending BBC, Radio France International, France 24, and expelling journalists.

What is Burkina Faso’s economic situation regarding gold and poverty?

Burkina Faso has the largest gold reserves in Africa and is Africa’s fourth largest gold producer, churning more than 57 tons in 2023. GDP per capita is 3.29 times higher than in 1980. However, over 41% of citizens still live below the national poverty line, the economy is vulnerable due to dependence on cotton and gold exports, just under half the population lacks clean water, only 21.7% had electricity access in 2023, and there are only 1.46 doctors per 10,000 people.

Sources

• Original Places video: Burkina Faso: The West African Dictatorship That Loves Russia.
• Hero image source by openverse, cc0.