Traoré's Role in the Coup before the Coup

On January 22, 2022, the streets of Ouagadougou erupted with anger. Defying a ban on public gatherings, demonstrators thronged the capital, protesting against a government they believed had failed them. Jihadist violence had plagued Burkina Faso since 2015, claiming over 2,000 lives and displacing 1.5 million people. Frustration simmered as the people demanded change. Clashes broke out between protesters and security forces, and the country teetered on the brink of chaos. What began as a protest against the government’s inability to curb the insurgency soon spilled into the military barracks in the capital and in distant locations like Kaya where Captain Traoré was based. Soldiers, facing deadly threats on the frontlines with inadequate resources, began to mutiny.

Shots rang out from military camps across the country, from Sangoulé Lamizana and Baba Sy in Ouagadougou to the northern towns of Kaya and Ouahigouya. Tensions boiled over as soldiers demanded the replacement of army leadership, better equipment to fight the jihadists, and improved care for the wounded. What kind of government fails to offer treatment to injured soldiers?! They asked furiously. By January 22^nd evening, curfews were imposed, schools were closed, and the government’s control hung by a thread.

The next day, January 23, soldiers surrounded the presidential residence, and gunfire echoed through the night. President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, helpless in the face of the unrest, was arrested by the very military tasked with his protection. In the capital, supporters of the mutinous soldiers set fire to the headquarters of Kaboré’s ruling party, while masked soldiers fired celebratory rounds into the air. By the morning of January 24, uniformed officers appeared on national television. A communiqué was read by a junior officer on behalf of Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, announcing that the military had seized power. Borders were closed, the government dissolved, and the constitution suspended.

Lt. Col. Damiba, an elite officer trained at the prestigious Military School of Paris, was now the head of state. He had long been a central figure in Burkina Faso’s military, having commanded one of the country’s three military regions just months before the coup. He was also known for his controversial past as a member of the Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle (Presidential Security Regiment), an elite unit that once guarded former President Blaise Compaoré, who was responsible for the assassination of revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara. This association cast a shadow over Damiba’s rise to power, with many still viewing him as sympathetic to Compaoré.

Though Damiba’s coup marked a new chapter for Burkina Faso, it was only the beginning of a deeper crisis within the military ranks. Among those disillusioned by the system was Captain Ibrahim Traoré, a young officer stationed in Kaya. Traoré had witnessed firsthand the failures of the state’s approach to the jihadist insurgency. Soldiers on the frontlines, like him, were left to face relentless attacks with insufficient resources, poor leadership, and inadequate support. The seeds of Traoré’s own rebellion were sown during these tumultuous days.
Click here to read part 2 of this Ibrahim Traore series

The coup, while removing Kaboré, failed to address the root causes of the crisis. Jihadist violence continued, and the elite military leadership, now represented by Damiba, did little to stem the growing insurgency. Damiba himself, while experienced, represented the very elitism within the military that many junior officers resented. For men like Traoré, a silent battle raged within the army against a military hierarchy that seemed out of touch with the realities on the ground.

On January 23, on the coup’s eve, as gunfire rang out in the barracks, soldiers had demanded an overhaul of the system. They wanted new leadership and a more effective strategy against the jihadists who were ravaging their country. Captain Traoré, like many other soldiers, saw the coup as an opportunity for change. Yet the change he sought was not the kind that Damiba could offer. The elite officer, though now in charge, embodied the very structure that had left Burkina Faso vulnerable.

As Traoré’s discontent grew, so did his vision for a different future. His frustrations mirrored those of hundreds of other soldiers who felt abandoned by a government and a military leadership that failed to protect their country. Damiba’s ascent to power was just another step in a cycle of ineffective leadership that had begun long before Kaboré’s fall.

The months following the January 2022 coup were marked by continued unrest and disillusionment within the military. Soldiers like Traoré saw little improvement in their conditions. The fight against jihadist groups remained a losing battle, and Damiba, despite his elite training and military prowess, could not turn the tide.

It was in this context that Ibrahim Traoré began to rise. Young, ambitious, and deeply connected to the soldiers on the ground, Traoré represented a new kind of leadership rooted in the frustrations and hopes of the rank-and-file soldiers. His experience in Kaya, where he witnessed the collapse of a system that left the military ill-equipped to face an unrelenting insurgency, shaped his perspective. Unlike Damiba, Traoré was not part of the elite. He was a soldier who had seen the failures of the system firsthand, and he was determined to change it.

Though Damiba's coup had paved the way for him, it was clear that the change Burkina Faso needed would not come from the old guard. Ibrahim Traoré, still unknown to much of the world, would soon emerge as the face of a new chapter in the country’s turbulent history. A chapter led by someone who truly understood the struggles of Burkina Faso’s poor and the men on the frontlines.

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