In December 2022, the President of Ghana, Akufo Addo, became the first and only African President to accuse Captain Ibrahim Traore of working with the Russian mercenary group, Wagner. The President made this allegation during the 2022 US-Africa summit, stating that “Burkina Faso has now made an arrangement to, like Mali, use Wagner forces. I believe a mine in southern Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services” To make it more sympathetic, President Akufo added that “Russian mercenaries are at the northern border” of Ghana, which is “particularly worrying”. But, aside from his statement, the President did not present any evidence to support his claim and till date, no one knows why he made such an allegation against President Traore. Who knows, maybe he was trying to show solidarity with the United States and other Western countries who have been concerned about Russia’s growing influence in African countries. Regardless of his reasons, President Traore did not respond to his allegations at the time, and after the Ghana Presidency sent a representative to Burkina Faso to clarify the issue, the issue died down and diplomatic relations continued between both countries.

However, in a recent interview with Alain Foka, President Traore used the opportunity to call out Ghana’s President concerning the allegations labeled against him. He forcefully rejected the allegation that Burkina Faso was working with the Wagner group to fight insurgency and stated that Akufo Addo’s statements were false and baseless, meaning that there was no evidence. In President Traore’s own words “Unfortunately we have seen heads of state who fell into that lie and went to tell the lie that we supposedly gave mines in our Southern part to Russia. That’s a lie”. He added that “Why give? If the Russians want a mine we have our mining code. They come, integrate, and acquire licenses. They pay their taxes and everything they have to do like everyone else. So, there is nothing we give the Russians”.

President Traore then used the opportunity to express his commitment to the sovereignty of Burkina Faso stating that “if it was the deal to serve one master in place of another master, I would have rather died than do that because we say our homeland or death”. These are strong statements from President Traore and honestly, it shouldn’t be surprising. Every time President Traore speaks, you can feel the passion and the truth in his words and it’s this passion and truth that has endeared him to the hearts of many. It is great that President Traore has finally come out to clarify the issue of whether or not the Burkinabe military is working with Wagner because after President Akufo accused him of paying the Wagener group with a gold mine in exchange for fighting the jihadists, the media has continued to push the idea that Burkina Faso military is working side by side with Wagner. Anytime there is any news about Captain Traore and Burkina Faso, Western media never fails to talk about how the insecurity in Burkina Faso is still persistent and how the military is working with the Wagner group which has been accused of human rights abuse.

Interestingly there has never been any evidence but the media still continues to push the idea. But, it shouldn’t be surprising because the West, particularly the USA, has used the media as a weapon countless times to remove leaders that stand against them by publishing stories that put them in a bad light which will turn the general public against them. And once the public is against such a leader, the US would swoop in as a savior to eliminate the leader in the name of heeding to the cries of the citizens. It’s this same strategy that was used against Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. Everybody knew that Gaddafi was eccentric, yes, but he was a visionary leader who had plans to build a United Africa with one currency, one government, and one military. Gaddafi was openly defiant against the West and showed no fear against them. To easily eliminate him, articles were published calling Gaddafi a dictator and authoritarian leader who was oppressing his people. But how can a leader who is supposedly a dictator raise the standard of living of the citizens to the highest the country has ever seen?

In fact in 2010, Libya was considered a high-development country in the Middle East and North Africa. This translated status meant a literacy rate of 88.4 percent, a life expectancy of 74.5 years, gender equality, among several other positive indicators. Fewer people live below the poverty line than in the Netherlands. So, how exactly was Gaddafi a dictator? The fact is there was no evidence. All those articles were just published to justify why the US had to take Gaddafi out. Unfortunately, other African leaders that should have stood behind him didn’t and he was killed. Today Libya is in shambles and there is no hope the country will ever attain the heights it reached during the time of Muammar Gaddafi. So, coming out to defend himself against the allegations was a wise and necessary move on the part of Captain Ibrahim Traore.

Now, during the interview, President Traore also clarified that although Burkina Faso has strong diplomatic relations with Russia, no Russians have been deployed in the country to fight militant extremists. This means that all this while we have been thinking that the Russian army was fighting side by side with the Burkinabe military, nothing of such has been going on. According to Traore “There is no Russian in the field to fight. For the moment, we fight alone, they support us in terms of logistical training, tactical training,”. However, he added that “If there’s a need, they will come to the field to fight.” This means that all this while, Russian military presence in Burkina Faso has been limited to instructors who come to “instruct the military on the equipment.” The President also added that trainers from other countries, including China, were also present in the country. This means that Burkina Faso is not just dependent on Russia. As President Traore said “If it was the deal to serve one master in place of another master, I would have rather died than do that because we say our homeland or death” What a passion.

President Traore’s words remove the fear that Russia is coming to replace France as another colonial master. Quite alright, Burkina Faso has shifted away from the traditional Western alliance which has not benefited the country, and deepened relations with non-Western countries, notably Russia. However, that doesn’t mean that he would wait back and allow Russia to take control. The interesting thing is Russia may not even have any plan to take over any African country. The reason why there is such a fear is because Western countries are pushing the idea all over the media. The West, particularly the USA wants to remain on top as a world power but one country that is a threat to its ambition is Russia and currently China. As a result, the US wants to do everything it can to make sure the influence of these two countries does not surpass its own. This is the reason why they are always concerned about any African country dealing with Russia because that would mean that Russia’s influence is increasing.

Unfortunately for the US, all its efforts have come to naught. Despite mounting pressure on African countries not to ally with Russia and China, African countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have ignored their demands and gone ahead to build diplomatic relations with Russia. The reason for this is that Russia has proved that it is ready to relate with them on equal grounds. It’s the reason why Captain Traore hailed Russia as a strategic ally. Unlike France which related to Burkina Faso from a paternalistic point to the extent that France dictated what military equipment Burkina Faso could buy and where they could buy it from, Russia treats Burkina Faso as a partner of equal. However, even if Russia has ulterior motives the fact is President Traore is smart enough to deal with the situation. I mean if he could send France, which has been in the country since colonial times, packing, he certainly can do the same to Russia if Russia starts acting the wrong way.

One thing that can be observed about Captain Traore and which distinguishes him from other African leaders is that he values his country’s sovereignty and Independence above all else. So, any threat to that sovereignty will be eliminated. It’s the reason he kicked France out and withdrew from the ECOWAS regional bloc. According to Ibrahim Traore, ECOWAS has deviated from the ideals of its founding fathers and has become a puppet for Western powers. He also added that ECOWAS has become a threat to its member countries and for these reasons “Our route is a path of no return. (ECOWAS) is over!. It’s also for the sake of sovereignty and Independence that Burkina Faso is pulling resources together with Mali and Niger to form a confederation and eventually pull out from the CFA zone. President Traore is truly commendable and has proven time and time again that he is completely different from all those civilian African leaders such as President Akufo Addo who are weak-willed and puppets of the West. He has proven that being a leader is not about whether he came through a coup or election, it’s about your actions. Every African leader needs to learn from him.

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