By Jomo Thomas
‘Revolutionary experiments aimed at transforming the world so that the majority of people who toil to create wealth can benefit don’t fail. They are smeared, isolated, punished, blackmailed, strangled and eventually defeated and destroyed.’ Fidel Castro.
On April 30, 2025, progressive people across the world organised marches, pickets, demonstrations, rallies, teach-ins, and other manifestations in support of Ibrahim Traore, the young revolutionary leader who seized power in Burkina Faso in 2022, and has set out to transform his country and West Africa. He has become a symbol of what’s possible to many people in Africa and the world. For his courage, commitment and sacrifice, Traore has been in the cross hairs of those who want to continue to divide Africa and steal its riches.
In September 2023, the leaders of Burkino Faso, Niger, and Mali, responding to the clarion call for the formation of a United States of Africa first issued by Kwame Nkrumah in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963, made a giant step and formed the Alliance of Sahel States.
The alliance’s stated goal is to pool resources to build energy and communications infrastructure, establish a common market, implement a monetary union under proposed currency, allow free movement of persons, enable industrialisation, and invest in agriculture, mines and the energy sector, with the end goal of federalising into a single sovereign state.
The confederation opposes neocolonialism and foreign domination and has demonstrated this by downgrading the status of the French language and renaming colonial street names. It also has anti- West/anti-French posture because of the historical legacy which continues to dominate Africa and retard its growth and development.
Captain Traore is at the forefront of this effort. Consequently, the USA and the French have looked unkindly on these developments. They have singled out Captain Traore and have failed in their attempt to assassinate him at least 20 times.
The neo-fascist American regime ramped up the pressure on Traore two weeks ago when General Michael Langley, who heads Afrocom, the American military arm in Africa, accused Traore, who has nationalised Burkina Faso’s gold and other mineral resources, of spending the nation’s resources on his security rather than caring for the needs of the Burkinanbe people.
The accusation is a dastardly lie because Traore’s government has used much of the country’s resources to transform the infrastructure, provide health and education free of charge, and generally improve people’s lives.
France and the USA are primarily concerned with the developments in the Sahel region. They are mortally afraid of the discipline, sacrifice and selflessness Captain Traore has displayed. They despise revolutionary leaders intent on taking control of their nation’s resources and transforming their country. They mostly favour puppet leaders like Allasane Quattara of Ivory Coast, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Biya of Cameroon, traitors to Africa’s unity and development
To gain an appreciation for the treachery of these men one only has to be clear about role president Quattara’s complicity with France and the USA in financing and providing haven to the counter revolutionaries in Burkino Faco, Kagame and Museveni’s collusion with the west in sponsoring the reactionary forces of the M23 resistance that has created havoc in the Democratic Republic of the Congo all the while stealing its mineral deposits. The Puppet Paul Biya, the misruler of Cameroon since 1982, is 93 years old and actually lives in France. He is kept in power by the Western elites because his regime does their bidding and suppresses the genuine aspirations of the people for change.
French leaders have long spoken of their nation’s dependence on its exploitative relationship with Africa. François Mitterand, the longest-serving French president (1981 to 1995), said in 1957, ‘Without Africa, France will have no history in the 21st century.’ Jacqui Chirac, another president (1995 to 2007), declared in 2008 that ‘without Africa, France will slide into the ranks of a third [world] power.’
These men knew what they were saying. After independence, the fourteen states colonised by France were forced to sign agreements that compelled the newly independent countries to deposit all foreign reserves in French Banks. Eighty-four percent stayed in France, 3 percent returned to their countries, and 13 percent can be borrowed at exorbitant interest rates. This is the neo-colonial arrangements that Captain Traore and the other leaders in Mali and Niger are trying to break free from.
African leaders have failed in their effort to gain total control of the continent’s abundant natural resources. Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral, Thomas Sankara, Samora Machel, Chris Hani, and Muammar Ghadafi have all paid with their lives for daring to end foreign domination and control of their countries.
The sad reality is that Africa is richly endowed with natural resources. Yet, it is mostly controlled by puppet African leaders who, for trinkets, sell out their nation’s interests to foreign governments and multinational corporations. All too often, African countries receive a 3/97 per cent split on the profits from the mining and selling of their oil, gas, and minerals.
Therefore, when prominent Western leaders/officials and their media launch their smear campaigns, we need to look closely at why a given leader is being attacked. Nelson Mandela, who was released from prison to become president of South Africa and feted in Western capitals, was removed from the American terrorism list in 2008.
Were Ghadafi and Fidel Castro the depots that Western leaders and media made them out to be? Why did they kill Lumumba and depose Nkrumah? Why was Thomas Sankara betrayed and assassinated? Why did President Obama and Hillary Clinton organise the bombing of Libya and the murder of Colonel Gaddafi? Why did the Americans and regional reactionaries like Tom Adams, Edward Seaga and Eugenia Charles oppose the Grenada Revolution and later invade the Spice Isle? Why did the American government plot the overthrow of Allende in Chile? Why do they despise Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro?
The answer to these questions is simple. These leaders and the revolutionary processes they led were intended to improve the lives of the poor and most vulnerable in these countries.
Once we understand that basic fact, we will know why France and America, the European ruling elite and the reactionary forces across Africa are opposed to Captain Traore and want to kill him.
Africa is on the move. Captain Traore must be protected.