Who in the World is Ibrahim Traoré?

Burkina Faso’s interim president has re-ignited the spark of Pan-Africanism, but can he manifest his revolutionary vision?

What to make of Ibrahim Traoré? The charismatic unelected 37-year old leader of Burkina Faso has galvanized members of the West African diaspora, coming to symbolize a rejection of the post-colonial influence of France in the region. His boyish good looks, Sankara-inspired red beret and Pan-Africanist ideals make him an exciting leader to young people across the continent, where geriatric leaders have held onto power in many countries. Captain Traoré came to power in a 2022 coup, ousting interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba who had taken power only eight months before. In some ways, Traoré’s popularity represents a tolerance for military rule, or at least a rejection of the corruption and inefficiency that plague many African “democracies.”

This rejection is not limited to Burkina Faso. Two of Traoré’s closest allies are Colonel Assimi Goîta of Mali and General Abdourahamane Tiani of Niger, military leaders who took control of their countries in 2021 and 2023 respectively. The three leaders all left the Economic Community of West African States or ECOWAS late last year, after the French-aligned bloc imposed sanctions described by the three countries in a joint statement as “illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible.” The sanctions were a response to the coups that rocked the Sahelian states, and came as relations between the three countries and their Western allies had reached an all-time low. Since the exit, Traoré’s popularity has skyrocketed, and his vision of a sovereign Africa unbeholden to Western influence has earned comparisons to Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba and Muammar Gaddafi.

Traoré has taken several steps to shore up sovereignty in Burkina Faso and instill faith in his vision of Pan-African unity. He advocates a message of personal austerity, reversing raises for government employees and retaining his captain’s salary. He has denied financial assistance from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and vowed to nationalize two of the country’s gold mines, buying them from their UK-based owners for a fraction of their estimated value. At present, Burkina Faso is the 13th-largest producer of gold in the world, but the bulk of revenue from the country’s natural resources has gone to companies in Canada, America and the EU.

The Sahel’s repudiation of Western allegiances extended to military relations, and as of 2025, all three countries have expelled French and, in some cases, American forces from their lands . The nations formed the Alliance of Sahel States, committing to a free and unfettered flow of goods and people between the three nations, and pledging to support each other in the face of escalating jihadist violence by groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Over 40% of Burkina Faso is controlled by such groups. Islamist violence has long plagued the Sahel, its perpetrators capitalizing on–and in some cases bringing about–the instability in the region. The end of military cooperation with France and the U.S. means that the Sahelian states need new alliances and access to weapons, tactical equipment, and in some cases troops. Turkey, China, the UAE and Russia have all been active in the Sahel, but it’s perhaps Russia who has the most influence in the region.

Russia has been active in central Africa and the Sahel for the past few years. Mercenaries from the Wagner Group were stationed in Mali as far back as 2022, often providing security for the military junta itself. Traoré has himself traveled to Moscow on at least one occasion this year, and looks to the country as a strategic alternative to alliances colored by legacies of colonialism. The West has framed this relationship as predatory, with the head of the U.S. Africa Command Gen. Michael Langley warning that several countries in Africa are at risk of “being captured by the Russian Federation.” It’s hard to pay much attention to an American crying foul about imperialism, but Russia’s diplomatic influence in the region is certainly strong, with Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso all voting against a United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s presence in the region extends beyond resource extraction and military aid. It beats out China and the UAE as the main source of disinformation campaigns in Africa, and is almost certainly who we have to thank for this utterly nauseating AI-generated R. Kelly Ibrahim Traoré ballad. With many Africans navigating the landscape of social media literacy for the first time, disinformation about Traoré’s successes in Burkina Faso is rampant. Amidst claims of solar-powered cities and electric vehicles, Reuters debunked a pervasive claim that Burkina Faso paid off the entirety of its debt to France.

Traoré’s own relationship with the flow of information might be a little less generous. He has cracked down on dissent and has been accused of using conscription to silence voices of opposition. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that seven journalists have disappeared since June 2024. An ominous military conscription video appears to show three of the missing men in military uniform. One of those three men, Guézouma Sanogo, was president of the Association of Burkinabé Journalists, a media organization forced by the government to dissolve earlier this year.

It’s clear that Traoré’s message resonates with Africans across the continent and around the world. His youth, poise, and Pan-African ideals endear him to the many disillusioned people in Burkina Faso, the Sahel and beyond. His rejection of EU influence in favor of an alliance with Russia is shrewd and strategic, and his emphasis on sovereignty and African solutions to African problems is certainly inspiring. But his similarities with his newest ally Putin–namely, a desire for control and a dislike of dissent–could serve to undermine his revolutionary message.