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Ar How the UN's Blue Helmet Impacted Ibrahim Traoré
Part 4 of this seven-part series explores Ibrahim Traoré’s risky experience fighting jihadists in northern Burkina Faso. It later delves into his 2018 experience as a UN Peacekeeper in Mali. Confronting insurgencies firsthand deepened his skepticism of Western influence and reinforced his belief that Africa must solve its problems.
On 23rd August 2015, when Traoré was 27 years old, jihadists struck Burkina Faso, marking a turning point for the young soldier. He was still a junior ranking officer and hadn’t yet been deployed to the international front lines. But the attack brought the jihadist threat directly to his doorstep. The insurgency was growing, and Traoré, stationed in northern Burkina Faso, was thrown into the fight to defend his homeland.
The weary boots of Traoré and his fellow soldiers kept smashing into the cracked, ochre earth and sparse trees, the land itself feeling like an adversary. The sun scorched relentlessly over towns like Djibo and Gorom-Gorom, where the air tasted of dust and the wind carried a sense of unease, a constant reminder of the insurgencies plaguing this region. Some of the parched fields were dotted with zai pits – an ancient method of farming born from the need to coax life out of a hostile, drought-ridden landscape. This thirsty land had become the setting for a volatile fight for survival, serenity and sovereignty.
Traore, now a detachment commander, drew inspiration from the local people’s resilience. They lived just south of the Sahara, in a land so dry that sweat easily formed on one’s forehead as early as 6 AM. He owed it to these people to fight with all his might. That’s exactly what he did one blazing hot afternoon.
The army had moved southward toward Barsalogho, a town teetering on the brink of falling to jihadists. The highway leading into Barsalogho was believed to be mined, so Traore led his men on a daring ‘commando trek’ through the rugged countryside, arriving just in time to liberate the town. That day became one of the happiest moments of his military career, a victory forged through grit and an unwavering commitment to defend the people who inspired him.
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The Atrocious Attack in the Grand Mosque
Just a few weeks later, on a Friday evening, the jihadists committed an atrocious and sacrilegious attack. They stormed the Grand Mosque in the village of Salmossi and killed fifteen worshippers. Fifteen people, executed in their place of worship. The image burned into Traore’s mind. He could almost hear the gunfire that must have shattered the serenity of Friday prayers. The jihadis had come swiftly, cutting through lives with ruthless precision, then disappearing back into the desert like ghosts. And now, Salmossi was a ghost town. Fear had scattered the people like windblown sand, and no amount of military reinforcement could sweep away the terror.
Who does that?! Traore raged. Who attacks innocent worshippers in a sacred place of worship and massacres them in cold blood! These questions gnawed at his heart and filled him with righteous rage to help his people. The people who lost relatives in this mosque attack; the people of nearby equally besieged towns like Gorom-Gorom; all the vulnerable people of Burkina Faso.
Every day, Traore slapped the backs of the few soldiers under him, urging them to fight harder.
“The jihadis don’t have bulletproof vests, so we don’t need them either,” he often told them.
This wasn’t a reckless and naïve urge for them to fight without the necessary equipment. Rather, it was call to arms, for the soldiers to give everything in defense of the people. He led from the front, with deep conviction and resolve. This act of boldness and self-sacrifice is a hallmark of leadership that builds unwavering loyalty and determination among those who follow.
These relentless jihadist attacks laid bare the nation's vulnerability and exposed deep systemic flaws within its military – poor equipment, delayed pay, and an absence of a clear strategy. Though frustrated, soldiers like Traoré confronted these challenges with unwavering resolve, their sense of duty to the Burkinabè people only growing stronger. Yet, Traoré often found himself questioning whether army superiors and President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, far removed in Ouagadougou, shared the same commitment. Since Kaboré took office on December 29, 2015, little had changed, and Traoré couldn’t shake the feeling that the leadership's indifference was costing lives.
Click here to read part 1 of this Ibrahim Traore series
Salmossi in Northern Burkina Faso
The Chronic Shortcomings of the French Forces
Traore was also concerned that the presence of hundreds of French soldiers in the fight against jihadists hadn’t made a difference. A 2018 military accord between France and Burkina Faso had paved the way for France to send its soldiers to assist in the fight against Islamist insurgents affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
In addition, France had a broader military mission across the Sahel known as Operation Barkhane, launched on August 1, 2014. With around 3,000 troops based in N'Djamena, Chad, the operation aimed to target Islamist groups in cooperation with five former French colonies: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. However, by 2017, the mission had yet to achieve significant results. This greatly bothered Traore. Western allies were falling short. His own leaders both in the army and the country were falling short. Though still in his late twenties, these experiences began shaping his view of leadership and governance, planting the seeds of discontent with both local corruption and Western influence that would later drive his rise to power.
Click here to read part 2 of this Ibrahim Traore series
Traore was part of these UN Peacekeepers in Mali
The Blue Helmets Experience
The following year, 2018, proved to be a pivotal year for Traore. He was promoted to Captain and thrust into a complex and volatile situation when he joined the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (French: Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation au Mali, MINUSMA)
This deployment marked a crucial chapter in his military career, exposing him to both the challenges and responsibilities of international peacekeeping. Established in 2013, MINUSMA was tasked with stabilizing Mali after Islamist militants, bolstered by the fallout from Libya's collapse, seized control of much of the country’s northern regions. The French military’s intervention had pushed the militants back, but the threat remained, and the mission for the UN's blue helmets was to maintain order in a landscape marked by shifting alliances, insurgencies, and an uncertain future.
Traoré’s involvement in MINUSMA placed him in the heart of a multidimensional conflict. The mission entailed keeping the peace, helping Mali rebuild its fractured military, and restoring stability to a nation on the brink of collapse. As part of this Force, Traoré experienced firsthand the complexity of modern peacekeeping, where soldiers were expected to do more than monitor ceasefires. Instead, they had to dismantle terrorist cells, secure volatile regions like Timbuktu, and enable political dialogue.
Traoré’s time in Mali shaped his understanding of insurgency, civilian protection, and the geopolitical forces at play in West Africa. It also instilled in him a strong sense of how external powers like France and the United Nations impacted the internal dynamics of African nations, for better and worse. This would later inform his views on Burkina Faso's future and his deep skepticism of Western influence.
The peacekeeping mission tested Traoré's leadership and exposed him to the international dimensions of warfare. As a soldier in MINUSMA, he witnessed the devastating effects of militant insurgencies and the fragility of state power in the face of extremist threats. The mission’s mandate to rebuild the Malian armed forces and facilitate national elections reflected a larger vision of restoring civilian rule. Though his role was to maintain peace, Traoré was often thrust into situations that demanded combat readiness, with insurgents always lurking on the fringes, ready to exploit any weakness. These experiences would become critical in shaping his future leadership, especially as he would later take command of Burkina Faso amid its own insurgency crisis.
Through his time in Mali, Traoré began to see the limitations of foreign-led peacekeeping missions. He understood the delicate balance between stabilizing a country and imposing foreign solutions on its people.
The United Nations’ blue helmet became a symbol of international intervention, but it also underscored the importance of African nations solving African problems. Traoré’s experience with MINUSMA, where international forces worked to secure Mali while contending with the complexities of local grievances, foreshadowed the tensions he would later navigate as a leader in Burkina Faso. The lessons he learned under the UN's blue helmet would shape his approach to governance, war, and the fierce independence he now champions as Burkina Faso’s president.
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