Hidden in a hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, photojournalist Guillem Trius and I met journalist Serge Oulon on an autumn day in 2023. The country was living under an increasingly authoritarian military regime. With the challenge of regaining total control of the territory, disputed by jihadist groups, Ibrahim Traoré, 34 years old, presented himself as a revolutionary leader after a coup d'état in September 2022. Burkina Faso is a country marked by coups d'état and revolutions, in its attempts to flee the French sphere of influence since its political independence in 1960. The leader who went the furthest, the military man Thomas Sankara, led the country between 1983 and 1987, before being assassinated in a coup d'état that installed another military man in power, Blaise Compaoré, closer to Paris, who ruled with an iron fist until 2014.Was it possible that Traoré was the new Sankara? Oulon replied no. "Sankara was an intelligent person, who stimulated debates with politicians and his entourage. Traoré wants no contradiction. Sankara, moreover, did not place his family members in government. Traoré did". A few months later, Oulon was kidnapped at his home's door by ten armed men dressed in civilian clothes. A few hours later, intelligence agents took his mobile phone and computer. Almost two years later, last May, a publication by Reporters Without Borders gave us good news and bad news: he was not dead as we thought, but he was imprisoned in the capital, where he had suffered all kinds of torture.Since our interview with Oulon, Traoré's government has increased prison sentences for homosexuality, banned NGOs and political parties, and extended its stay in power until 2029. He recently declared that Africans do not need democracy, a position identical to that of some metropolises in supporting bloody dictatorships close to their interests. He continues to have support among Burkinabe people, but there are growing – private – criticisms of the extremely high level of repression. Two members of an anti-colonialist movement critical of France were detained for two years. Traoré's followers abroad, very active on social networks, have spent this time explaining the revolution's triumphs in videos that have garnered millions of views: Burkina Faso has rejected loans from the IMF and the World Bank, no longer sells gold to Western countries, and has taken full control of the mining sector. They plan, along with their allies, to abandon the CFA franc, the currency that ties the destiny of 14 African countries to the decisions of France and the European Central Bank.External control

This narrative, very popular, is a combination of half-truths and lies. Burkina Faso has been in an IMF adjustment program since September 2023. The main buyer of gold from Burkina Faso is Switzerland. The change in the mining code has led Burkina Faso to go from owning 10% of projects to owning 15%, and it only applies to new contracts. The debt has increased by 50% since Traoré came to power, and most loans now come from the CFA zone at an interest rate of around 7% per year. To the reports FMI's semi-annual, the local finance minister states they do not intend to leave the CFA. The economy has grown considerably due to the increase in gold prices, but this macroeconomic factor rarely generates income for the poorest Burkinabés, as most mines remain in the hands of foreign multinationals. The government still does not control the entire territory, and jihadist attacks are beginning to spread south, affecting Ghana and Benin. Almost four years after Traoré came to power, Burkinabés face another danger: being trapped by the revolutionary desires of the left elsewhere, which applauds the successes of the Burkina Faso government without having to suffer them.

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It was September 30th, and in Burkina Faso, rumors of another coup—the second in just eight months—were circulating, and the country was glued to their television screens. There was no signal. Gunfire and explosions could be heard near the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood, where the presidential palace, the homes of wealthy families, and the embassies are located. The capital, Ouagadougou, awoke in uncertainty and confusion. The rumors were confirmed: a new military uprising had just taken place.

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"Ibrahim Traoré is not a new Sankara, but he is a Sankaraist," says a teacher from a school in Bobo-Dioulasso. Following his assassination in 1987, the Burkinabe revolutionary leader, Thomas SankaraThe man who changed his country's colonial name—Alt-Volta to Burkina Faso, "the homeland of upright men"—has left behind a very strong current of anti-colonial thought. This thought defends, above all, the dignity of the African people and "cooperation with all the peoples of the world," in opposition to the "image of the beggar" that the West had imposed through development aid.

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"Out with the white woman, out with the white woman!" is the first thing I hear upon arriving at Tiéfo Amoro Square in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso, the epicenter of anti-French protests and demonstrations in support of the military junta that has ruled the country since the coup d'état of September 30, 2022. "IB! IB! IB! IB!" Ibrahim Traoré, the world's youngest president, has promised to restore peace to Burkina Faso, a West African country, by July 2024. An ambitious promise for a country that already has more than two million internally displaced people and 11,312 deaths since 2016, according to the organization Conglicte. in the hands of terrorist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State that operate mainly in the northern and eastern regions of the country.

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“From now on, the Sahel’s resources should benefit Sahelians and partners who understand the paradigm shift in today’s diplomacy,” says Azise Sodore, head of the geography department at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The Sahel is the semi-desert belt between the Sahara Desert to the north and the Sudanese region to the south, stretching 5,000 kilometers between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. “The Sahel’s natural resources have made it the target of geopolitical and geostrategic plans,” Sodore says, noting the greed of those who want to exploit them.

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It's exam day at the Lycée Française Saint-Exupéry in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Very close to the central market, a hub of commerce, bustle, and shouting, stands a wall with double barbed wire and little signage. From the outside, it doesn't look like a high school, but when you walk through the door, neither does it. There's very little activity and a lot of silence. In fact, it's Baccalaureate day. selectivity, an exam such as the selectivity that allows students to continue higher education and that puts an end to the stage of high school (equivalent to high school).

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