Ibrahim Traoré increasingly discreet, what does his silence mean?

The rampart of the junta in power in Burkina Faso seems to be cracking since a new large-scale jihadist attack has revealed the sterile strategy of Captain Ibrahim Traoré.

Ibrahim Traoré, the strong man of Ouagadougou, is weakened by a series of incidents in the heart of the capital of Burkina Faso. Faced with this worrying development in the security situation, his silence appears all the more mysterious. On May 17, 2024, exchanges of gunfire were heard inside the presidential palace. On June 12, in the same neighborhood, two people were injured by a rocket attack on the public television premises and the head of the junta was exfiltrated from the Council of Ministers.

In both cases, the presidency press release mentions simple “shooting incidents” and in both cases, Ibrahim Traoré remains invisible and silent. He reappears on June 14, as part of World Blood Donor Day, smiling, without a word about the unrest around the presidential palace. A communication operation supposed to reassure the population, but doubt sets in and the authenticity of the video is immediately called into question on social networks.

Two days later, the armed forces made public the results of the jihadist assault on the Mansiba barracks, on the northwest border with Niger: 107 soldiers were killed there, 7 Burkinabé soldiers were taken hostage and there yet, not a message, nor a word from Ibrahim Traoré.

A silence which annoys, which questions and the mystery which surrounds Traoré’s attitude leads public opinion to only be able to put forward theories, like that mentioned by the former president of the Burkinabé electoral commission, on the set of TV5 Monde. “We have seen in recent days, in the confusion we are experiencing, planes landing carrying mercenaries, he said. Are these the instructors that Lavrov announced? Or they have transferred exceptional troops in the case of the prevailing situation.”

Ibrahim Traoré could therefore wait in silence and count on the support of Russian mercenaries to restore order, but this is of course not the only hypothesis. Some sources have been saying for months that some of the soldiers are revolted by Captain Traoré’s lack of consideration.

A rebellion within the military apparatus itself, which calls into question the leader’s lack of results since Ibrahim Traoré came to power. The conflict between the country and the jihadists has, in fact, caused twice as many victims on the Burkinabe side.