After 20 months of transition, Captain Ibrahim Traoré has been given a five-year extension to lead the country, following the recommendations of the May 25, 2024, national assembly held in Ouagadougou. For this five-year term, the Head of State decided to set out the broad lines of his governance on July 11, 2024, during an exchange with the nation’s driving forces.
Captain Traoré spoke his “truths” to a sympathetic audience, in the style of the Political Orientation Speech delivered by the father of the Burkinabe revolution, Thomas Sankara, on October 2, 1984. Not all of his remarks were diplomatic.
The President of Faso denounced the existence of a “centre of operations in Abidjan to destabilise Burkina.” “In an interview, we talked about the Ivorian regime, and some Burkinabe got on their high horse to criticise. I insist and persist. We have nothing against the Ivorian people, but we do have something with those who run Côte d’Ivoire. There is, indeed, a centre of operations in Abidjan to destabilise our country. No one can deny it, and we’ll bring you the proof in the days to come. We’ll show you the physical evidence, and you’ll understand what we’re talking about,” he declared.
In addition to Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, another of Burkina Faso’s neighbouring countries, got its fix. The Head of State pointed out that there are “two French bases in Benin that train and equip” terrorists. “No one will come and tell us that in Benin, there is no French base set up against us. And I challenge them. We have the proof. There are two French bases in Benin. We have nothing against the Beninese people, we have a problem with the policies of the Beninese leaders. There are, indeed, two bases. Runways have been redeveloped… planes land, people equip and train terrorists there. We have audio recordings of French agents in Benin over there, who play at the terrorists’ centres of operations. They set up operations with them, they help them with medical care, and they do everything there is to do. We have all the details on them. And you don’t want us to tell our people? We’ll tell them. If they don’t want to, they should stop behaving like this. It’s simple,” he insisted. And on this subject, he promised proof in the days to come.
Possible Reprisals
These statements were a bitter pill for Benin. Through diplomatic channels, Benin protested against the statements made by the President of Burkina Faso, which it deemed “false.” Indeed, the Beninese government, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shegun Adjadi Bakari, summoned the Burkina Faso ambassador to Benin, David Kabré, reports the Banouto newspaper, citing diplomatic sources. Responding to the summons, the Burkina Faso diplomat, who is resident in Accra, was received by Benin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. In keeping with diplomatic practice, the Foreign Minister expressed Benin’s indignation at the “baseless accusations” made by the President of Burkina Faso.
On the same day that President Traoré made these remarks, Benin government spokesman Wilfried Léandre Houngbedji wrote on his Facebook page: “It’s the pot calling the kettle black.” He also pointed out that “the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks in Benin tend to come from Burkina and Niger.”
Burkinabe Expelled from Côte d’Ivoire
At the close of the Council of Ministers meeting on July 17, 2024, the government denounced the deportation of 173 Burkinabe from Côte d’Ivoire “in defiance of humanitarian rules,” according to Communication Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo. The oldest is 75 and the youngest a 4-month-old baby.
These people, all from the Fulani community, were welcomed on July 16, 2024, in Yendéré, on the Ivorian-Burkinabe border. According to the testimony of these people, they were counted and loaded into a vehicle bound for Burkina Faso without explanation, leaving behind part of their family and their animals.
Is this attack a sign of reprisal for the Burkinabe president’s statements accusing his Ivorian counterparts? It’s hard to confirm, but the Burkinabe authorities have an idea of what’s currently going on. “The deportation has not been notified in advance. We don’t know the real intentions of the Ivorian authorities. In any case, we have taken precautions to ensure that we are not only inveighing to find out what has triggered this deportation. Is it linked to the ECOWAS summit?” asks Mahamadou Sana, Minister Delegate in charge of security. For this deportation violates the provisions of international conventions on the status of refugees.
What can we expect in the coming days? Will we see further diplomatic episodes linked to President Ibrahim Traoré’s declarations? One thing is certain: the leaders of Benin and Côte d’Ivoire are eagerly awaiting the evidence promised by Burkina Faso’s transitional president.
To avoid any further negative repercussions from Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s media appearance, Burkina Faso’s diplomatic corps must spare no effort to return to better relations with its neighbouring countries. The remarks were solemn to be so easily forgotten, especially given that the leaders of the Alliance des Etas du Sahel (AES) are imposing a new geopolitics on West Africa. Highly adulated by the youth of their countries, the declarations of the presidents of the three military transitions are echoed on social networks and taken as gospel. However, the accused countries must also cleanse their honour in the eyes of their citizens. No people will accept being the laughingstock of another.
The future of cooperation between the three countries is at stake. Relations between the countries of West Africa have never been as shaken as we have been since 2023. We look forward to a return to more relaxed bilateral relations.
