The Burkina Faso leader, Ibrahim Traoré, says he doesn’t fear dying for his country. He prefers to leave a legacy and die shortly. This is his ambition. Sources say he will be killed like Gaddafi as he stands tall among other African leaders. Ibrahim Traore is Burkina Faso’s president today, courtesy of two coups in under nine months—January and September 2022.
He became the world’s youngest head of state in September, when he and other junior military officers ousted Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Henri Damiba, who had also ascended to the presidency through a coup in January.
Traore holds the position of capitain, which is French for captain, in the military hierarchy. The captain rank is the lowest of the three. Their respective titles are Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, and Commandant.
Burkina Faso adopted the military command system of France because it was formerly a French colony.
In military circles, Traore’s ascent to prominence was imminent, even though many people characterize it as a meteoric rise.
Traore’s big break came in 2014 when he was sent to Mali as a soldier under the United Nations peacekeeping mission program, MINUSMA, after having previously served in comparatively lower-level roles in Burkina Faso’s military.
An unnamed source informed Radio Omega that 26-year-old Traore had previously fought off a “complex attack” by militant extremists in the northern Timbuktu region while serving in Burkina Faso’s military, saying that he had “shown bravery” during his deployment to Mali.
The international spotlight seemed to have subsided until July 2023, when he traveled to Saint Petersburg, Russia, with 16 other African heads of state to meet with President Vladimir Putin, who had organized the Russia-Africa Summit. “I know that I am younger than most of you here. We did not want what happened (coup against Damiba), but we did not have a choice,” he said to government officials in October 2022.
The other presidents were all wearing their pricey, custom-tailored suits. However, the tall Traore, who stands just over six feet tall, appeared wearing battle gear from the military, including tactical gloves and a red beret.
Traore was one of the few, if not the only, visiting presidents to return the salute as he passed the security guards at Expo Forum, the summit’s location, who were saluting the arriving heads of state.
When he posed for a picture with the Russian leader, his powerful build and distinct presence—even in Putin’s close vicinity—attracted attention from around the globe.
He received praise for his address at the Russia-Africa Summit, which took place from July 27 to 28, but he also received notice for his saluting, his photo with Putin, and his dress code.
We African heads of state must stop acting like marionettes that dance every time the imperialists pull on our strings,” Traore stated. “The problem is seeing African heads of state who bring nothing to people who are struggling, singing the same song as the imperialists who call us ‘ militia.'” As a result, they end up referring to us as people who do not respect human rights. Captain Troare said.
At the United Nations General Assembly, a similarly significant international forum, on October 4, 1984, Sankara declared, “Our economic ambition is to use the strength of the people of Burkina Faso to provide, for everyone, two meals a day and drinking water.”
Traore has been called Sankara incarnate on social media. On August 4, 1983, Sankara overthrew the French government in Burkina Faso amid a severe famine that had swept over Western Africa in the early 1980s, affecting Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, and Niger.
By proposing policies to alleviate foreign debt and hunger that had created undue suffering, the Pan-African revolutionaries would go on to win over many Burkina Faso citizens.
Thousands of Burkina Faso citizens lined up on the streets of Ouagadougou, the country’s capital, to greet Captain Ibrahim Traore after his July trip to Russia. How did Traore ascend to the relatively senior military rank and eventually the presidency? Traore attended a local military academy before enlisting in the army in 2009 at the age of 21, where he learned how to use artillery in Morocco, a country in North Africa.
Traore settled on a military career after completing his secondary education in Bobo-Dioulasso City, southwest of Burkina Faso. Reports state he is a “shy and reserved person” but “highly intelligent.”
Before removing Damiba from office, he headed an artillery regiment in Burkina Faso.
Immediately after the September 2022 coup, Traore declared himself the new head of the Patriotic Movement for Conservation and Restoration, and five days later, on Octobe,r 6 he announced that he was Burkina Faso’s new transitional president.
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