Captain Ibrahim Traoré Fighting The Enemy & Propaganda; One Year At War For The Homeland

Saturday, 16 September 2023

By: TB Obwoge

Imagine that in a modern day world, your country is flanked with terrorism that comes from all sides. Meaning from every border, they jump from country to country. Not one country comes to your aide to fight on the defense of you or your people. Years pass, 7-years and 11,000 people are murdered.

France has the 8th largest military budget in the world and is ranked 9th out of 145 other countries that are ranked. French troops were in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, why had they not made any progress in the elimination of terrorism? Even the US military is in Niger and Ghana, why is it that the terrorism never managed to touch Ghana?

I'm 4,804 miles (7731.289 kilometers) away from Ouagadougou, why was I able to read a post from a French account claiming to be a reporter, writing about Burkina Faso's leader? Because of Twitter, I was also able to notice that this account was also discredited as fake, however Twitter hadn't removed it.

Another account had shown how the user had taken a photo of a French reporter to create an identical account. However one missing key was there was no link to a website where this so-called writers articles were posted.

This account mocked Mali's leader Colonel auxiliary Goïta and Captain Ibrahim Traoré. The fact that they wore uniforms, which as military officers they would. The account also posted some questionable articles and French propaganda. Many of them drew anger but no one can be sure of how many people believed his posts.

H0wever now there are the seeds of not only these messages but others. Someones flooding money into the country, in hope to bribe troops to overthrow the leadership of Captain Ibrahim Traoré.

A journalists who's engaged with Burkinbé citizens who've been posting disinformation about the leadership of Captain Traoré has made a point to post proof of their misinformation.

To all the soldiers mobilized for this coup, know that it failed. This means that God is giving you one last chance to leave the plotting leaders behind. They try to push you to the slaughterhouse by trying to force the impossible. If they want to mobilize you, soldiers, ask them to be at the head of the column, as IB did on September 30 as a good leader. But if they only give you money and weapons, and rent furnished villas in Ouaga2000 to put their family there while waiting for you to take power, while they go out to make speeches, I ask you to use this money to improve the living conditions of your families. Don't hesitate to go have a beer at the VIP in memory of their failure.

Source: Ibrahima Maiga

#1 - Someone's trying to convince the population that that Captain Ibrahim Traoré is stealing money from the country. How this is working, I won't understand. Here are examples that a person can see from outside the country.

Military equipment is being upgraded and purchased. In the beginning citizens were asked to donate old vehicles, even if they didn't work. The military needed them, the government would put in the work to fix them. After fixing the cars, they were painted camouflage and used for the soldiers movements.

IB has not made any personal investment since taking office. Even I am richer than him. Even the Lexus that made noise when he went to prayer was a relative's car, and that car had been there for years before that. Now, someone provide proof to the contrary. Neither IB nor his brothers have bought even a chicken coop since IB came to power, whether in Burkina or elsewhere. The purpose of any information to the contrary is to encourage you not to participate in the war effort to allow terrorists to take over and plunge the country into a disastrous financial situation. If we are able to know that a person purchased a house in a particular neighborhood, we should be able to produce a photo of the property and physical evidence. Otherwise, asserting anything is easy.

Source: Ibrahima Maiga (Social Media Post)

After some time military equipment was donated from a neighboring country (Ivory Coast). Even though Ghana received $100 million USD to fight terrorism, that they claim is not in Ghana, they didn't give any equipment to Burkina Faso.

Ghana as a matter of fact has not shown one thing that they've done with the $100 million USD except take a tour of borders in which they claim they hadn't ever checked in over 6-years.

Captain Troaré takes no salary for interim president, the way his predecessor Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba had, when he looted the funds of Burkina Faso. Damiba raised the salaries of others as well, an act in which Troaré reversed when in charge.

#2 Citizens were organized to join the an auxiliary troops, much like the American draft system citizens are also asked to register if needed to fight. Another issue fake social media accounts mocked, yet they never mock the United States for requiring the same of their citizens.

In Vietnam many saw the death of those soldiers, in a war that they had no reason being involved in.

In Ukraine all abled bodied men of a certain age were forced to remain in the country to fight, this isn't the case in Burkina Faso. Yet all the glory and admiration goes to Ukraine.

People have been to Ukraine have written and told stories of things that were happening in the country, things that Russia also claimed that western media debunks as propaganda.

#3 Creating opportunities for the youth of Burkina Faso, fostering the arts, music, film and returning festivals and award programs to the country.

#4 Creating an aliance where as the former leader of Niger refused to work with Mali and Burkina Faso in the fight against terrorism.

Fight against terrorism: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger Heads of State Form Alliance of Sahel States

(Ouagadougou, September 16, 2023). The Heads of State of Burkina, Mali and Niger signed, this Saturday, the Charter of Liptako-Gourma establishing the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

The objective of this alliance is to establish an architecture of collective defense and mutual assistance for the benefit of the populations of the three countries.

Contracting Parties are committed to combating terrorism in all its forms and organized gang crime in the common space of the Alliance. In addition, they will work to prevent, manage and resolve any armed rebellion or other threat undermining the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of each of the Alliance member countries, with priority on peaceful and diplomatic routes. Using force to deal with situations of disruption of peace and stability will also be done when necessary.

Communications directorate of the Faso Presidency From the Public Facebook Page of Burkina Faso Presidency

A person would have to be blind to not see the racism in reporting world news when it comes to Africa. Even below in a Tweet you can see the Black man cropped out of a photo, this is mild compared to the constant wording used to belittle Black Africans in French reporting.

France is blantantly racist and xenophobic, there is no shame to what they're doing in West Africa.

Soldiers have been arrested for plotting a coup against Captain Troaré, media outlets have been shut down for posting misinformation about his leadership. Where in the world has this never happened? When it's from a Black African country facing terrorism it's considered evil. When Senegal shut off the internet service within the country they were never painted as evil. Sierra Leone had also done the same as well as arrested 14 individuals, some current and former soldiers, police and citizens.

Digitalization within Burkina Faso is key, another concern that the leadership of Troaré is working on. The process of making the country digital would help to end rampant corruption.

The process has already started by allowing citizens to pay for driving violations through mobile means. This was aimed to cut down on corruption by the police force and to allot that the fines would be recieved by the country. These things and more are making much more progress than under the deposed president and former military head Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

Now with his one year mark looming, he's facing the fight against his own fellow citizens and soldiers. Some like the journalist Ibrahima Maiga are trying to write and post to combat others misinformation. He's replying to post that are trying to discredit the leadership of Burkina Faso. His comments are deleted though, people who follow him can read his posts.

Even he (Maiga) faces threats from other citizens as well. He's spoken about them often too. People showing up in the cover of night, cowardly. Is this what the fight for the full land of Burkina Faso is going to take? A fight with their own people?