Burkina Faso’s Junta Deepens Repression After Failed Promises

Three years ago, Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso with two promises that have proved hollow: addressing the country’s worsening security crisis and restoring civilian rule. Instead, he has postponed elections until 2029, dissolved the independent electoral commission, and withdrawn the country from both the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). Burkina Faso has effectively become a military dictatorship.

The crisis began in January 2022, when protests over the civilian government’s failure to curb jihadist violence opened the door for Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba to take power. Transitional authorities pledged a return to democracy within two years, agreeing to a timeline with ECOWAS. But eight months later, Traoré led a second coup, accusing Damiba of failing to defeat insurgents.

As Traoré’s June 2024 deadline approached, the military government convened a national dialogue that most political parties boycotted. The resulting charter extended Traoré’s presidency until 2029 and allowed him to contest the next election, turning what was supposed to be a transitional period into an entrenched personal rule. The dismissal of Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela and the dissolution of his government in December 2024 eliminated the last semblance of civilian participation.

As the military consolidated power, civic freedoms collapsed. The CIVICUS Monitor downgraded Burkina Faso’s civic space to “repressed” in December 2024, reflecting the systematic silencing of dissent through arbitrary detention and a particularly disturbing tactic: forced military conscription of critics. Four journalists abducted in June and July 2024 were later declared “enlisted” by authorities. In March 2025, three prominent journalists who had spoken out against press restrictions were forcibly disappeared for 10 days before reappearing in military uniforms, their independence erased at gunpoint.

Civil society activists have faced similar abuses. Five members of the Sens political movement were abducted after publishing a statement condemning the killing of civilians. Human rights lawyer Guy Hervé Kam, the group’s coordinator, has been repeatedly detained for criticising the military. In August 2024, seven judges and prosecutors investigating supporters of the junta were conscripted; six reported to a military base and have not been heard from since. This weaponisation of conscription turns civic engagement into grounds for forced service, criminalising dissent under the guise of national defence.

Meanwhile, the security situation that justified the coups has sharply deteriorated. Deaths from militant Islamist violence have tripled under Traoré, with eight of the 10 deadliest attacks against the military occurring during his tenure. Armed forces now control as little as 30 per cent of the country. The military has been implicated in mass atrocities: in the first half of 2024 alone, soldiers and allied militias killed at least 1,000 civilians. In one February 2024 incident, soldiers summarily executed at least 223 civilians, including 56 children, in apparent retaliation for an Islamist attack.

The conflict has displaced millions. Independent estimates put the number of internally displaced people between three and five million—far higher than the government’s last official figure of just over two million in March 2023. Many are fleeing into neighbouring countries. Around 51,000 refugees arrived in Mali’s Koro Cercle district between April and September 2025, overwhelming already fragile host communities. Multiple simultaneous epidemics—including hepatitis E, measles, polio and yellow fever—have compounded Burkina Faso’s deepening humanitarian crisis.

To avoid accountability, the junta has withdrawn from international oversight mechanisms. After jointly leaving ECOWAS in January—describing the body as foreign-influenced and unhelpful in their anti-terrorism efforts—military-run Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger formed the Alliance of Sahel States. In September, the three juntas announced their withdrawal from the ICC, misrepresenting the court as a tool of neo-colonialism rather than an institution that prosecutes human rights abuses. These decisions leave victims of extrajudicial killings, torture and war crimes with little hope of justice.

The regime’s online propaganda has been highly effective in justifying its escalating repression. Traoré has crafted an image as a young pan-African leader resisting Western imperialism. For some young people across Africa and the diaspora, he symbolises charismatic leadership capable of breaking with discredited politics and colonial legacies. This image, however, is built on extensive disinformation that overstates progress, conceals human rights violations and frames withdrawal from international institutions as heroic resistance rather than an escape from scrutiny.

Despite anti-imperialist rhetoric, the junta has merely replaced one external patron with another. After expelling French forces, Burkina Faso turned to Russia for military support. Russian mercenaries now operate alongside national forces, exerting no pressure to uphold human rights while providing Vladimir Putin with geopolitical influence. The junta recently granted a Russian state-linked company rights to mine gold.

Yet the democratic spirit endures. Civil society leaders continue to speak out, journalists continue to report and opposition figures continue to mobilise, despite immense personal risks. Their courage demands more than expressions of concern.

Following the abrupt termination of USAID programmes by the Trump administration, other international donors must step in by establishing emergency funding mechanisms to support civil society groups and independent media operating under severe restrictions inside Burkina Faso or in exile. Regional institutions should impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for abuses and sustain pressure for a democratic transition. Without strong international solidarity, Burkina Faso risks becoming yet another example of how entrenched military rule becomes exceedingly difficult to reverse.