The underbelly of the junta in Burkina Faso

 The regime in power in Burkina Faso has many admirers who hail the leadership of the soldiers and their achievements. On the other hand, conversations within certain circles demonstrate that not everyone is in support of the Traoré regime.

The early days of September 2022 in Burkina were marked by the fever of the revolution. The vigour and youthful exuberance of civilians and soldiers had, again, made their presence felt and the common denominator in this new putsch was the age of the main actors. Burkinabè history records one indelible case of ‘revolution of the young’, precisely one which has now become synonymous with Thomas Sankara’s four-year-rule as president. The key artisans of the 1983 takeover were young officers who had politicized the army, given the Marxist-Leninist orientation to the national ideology. Then patriotism, self-sufficiency, financial transparence and rigour were the guiding principles adopted by the country which had a name change from the neocolonial Upper Volta to the national patriotic Burkina Faso. The 34-year-old Captain Thomas Sankara, who was the head of that August 4 junta, appointed young army officers who espoused leftist political ideology. Sankara and most of those ministers had attended the same military schools in Cameroon, Morocco, with several others, being childhood friends of Sankara. Valère Somé and Fidel Toé were two of the ministers whose acquaintance with the president dated back to their childhood years – 1950s to 1966.

When the MPSR 2 toppled MPSR1 (MPSR is acronym for “Popular Movement for the Safeguard and Restauration” in French) in December 2022, and 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traoré was chosen by the junta as president, many Burkinabè and foreign observers saw the similarities with the August 4, 1983, putsch. Primarily, the leader was a young military officer in his early 30s, slogans adopted were common and fundamental during the National Revolutionary Council (CNR in French), the name of the organ in power and the leftist anti- neocolonial political inclination of that regime reminded people of the “1983 revolution” which tragically ended when a minister of state and close friend of Thomas Sankara, Captain Blaise Compaoré sent a commando to eliminate the president. Many people pushed the similitude further, calling Captain Traoré “Thomas Sankara reincarnated”.  The main difference between the 1983 scenario and that of September 2022 was that the Traoré regime was and still is engulfed in an anti-terror war.

Burkina Faso has been battling against terrorist attacks for more than a decade. That led the new regime or MPSR2 to purchase more sophisticated military equipment, beef up the number of troops, and put in place voluntary national armed combatants who are totally committed to the war. The transitional regime was, ultimately, assigned a duration of five years by the transitional Parliament. Some suggested a duration of 10 years for the transition, but caution prevailed, and the five years were maintained.

It might help to recall that anti-corruption was one of the key points on the transitional government’s agenda. Plots of land that were fraudulently sold under the Compaoré and Kaboré presidency which were marred by corruption, the suffocating domination of the bourgeoisie, the culture or habit of waste which was eroding national properties like vans, pickups and many more were suddenly halted. Direct orders from the head of state’s office asked directors, or whoever was answerable for such disappearances of national equipment, to produce them within a very limited number of hours (48 hours in most cases). Other decisions that were perceived as bold by certain circles were the anti LGBTQ+ policy, the prioritization of the health and education sector and all those policies which contributed to augmenting the number of government supporters. But, for the past few months, certain acts started to contribute to the burgeoning of disillusionment in the Burkinabè transitional government. Several journalists and retired Burkinabè civil servants with international experience are said to be going through a period of muzzling – a practice that is almost synonymous with kidnapping – settled in. In my previous writing, I mentioned that such actions were aiming at re-educating the enemies of the nation in lessons of patriotism and others. Now, prolonged discussions with several people who are familiar with such practices reveal that they are buying more and more into the belief or conviction that freedom of expression is being erased in Burkina.

Conversations that move slightly away from the guiding line of the transitional regime’s policy are engaged in with extreme caution. That cautious attitude is adopted because such a discussion could be interrupted by men wearing hoods who arrest the speakers who are then sent to the war front or simply to a location that their close ones do not know. Sources have revealed that many army officers or political analysts are unhappy at being prevented from exercising a basic right.

Such arrests often come close to creating misunderstanding within the armed forces. The national intelligence service and the presidential guard are elite units whose soldiers carry out such “secret” operations. It is said that one unit often mentions the identity of another unit when taking away a citizen branded as the people’s enemy, potentially creating unrest among the commanders or members of such army elite units. Another cause of disappointment among many staunch defenders of the current transitional government is the use of the term apatride – a French word describing “a person who has no exact country or nationality”. It is often used to refer to a national who travels to a country, seeking greener pastures, stays there for long and then returns to their native country which is now unfamiliar. In many cases, socio-political or economic circumstances compels them to return to their native land. This term was popular between 1999 and 2003 in reference Burkinabè who were forced to return Burkina from Côte d’Ivoire. Those newcomers, who are often descendants of a first generation who had travelled to Côte d’Ivoire, did not know Burkina Faso. Strangely enough, the term “apatride” is allegedly used these days in Burkina to refer to people whose views are perceived to be different from those of the transitional government.

Several other situations paint the Burkinabè transition in colours which contrast with the virtues that the quasi-totality of open-minded Burkinabè patriots assigned to the transitional regime, a political leadership that was joyously seen as a renaissance of the revolutionary ‘years of the Sankara Revolution’. Many observers, citizens and analysts are praying that this perception will prove to be inaccurate. There is still time for a return to the revolutionary popular and patriotic days of integrity, some values and virtues that were seen in this government during its first days.

Moussa Traoré is Professor at the Department of English of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.