One year earlier in 2010, a 22-year old Traoré had watched President Compaoré win re-election with over 80 percent of the vote. Although the opposition alleged widespread rigging, the victory stood. Was this also a victory for the 80 percent of the population that relied on subsistence agriculture? Traoré wondered. He was a quiet guy. What his fellow soldiers didn’t know was that deep thoughts flared within his silence. He was always asking why? And why not?
In 2012 and 2013, these thoughts swirled constantly in Traoré’s mind during what were relatively uneventful years in Burkina Faso. As a sub-lieutenant, a junior officer, he watched the slow grind of the military machine with patience and resolution. The jihadists had not yet launched their brutal campaigns, so the Burkinabè army wasn’t involved in the deadly clashes that would soon define the region. Pay remained meager, and morale was low.
The stark class divisions that Traoré despised continued to thrive, with the wealthy elite living in comfort while the majority struggled. The inequality gnawed at him, fueling a quiet rage. Unnoticed by the world, a storm was building, not just across Burkina Faso, but deep within Traoré himself. Something was shifting, and though the country remained calm for the moment, he could feel the winds of change gathering force inside him.
One year earlier in 2010, a 22-year old Traoré had watched President Compaoré win re-election with over 80 percent of the vote.
