Burkina Faso junta leader dismisses democracy as ‘not for us’

The Burkinabè people must ‘forget’ democracy, declared Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso’s ruling junta leader, during a televised press conference on April 2. His remarks followed the adoption of a new charter that extends military rule by five years—effectively delaying elections until at least 2029.

Captain Traoré rose to power in September 2022 through a coup, marking the second such event in eight months. The political transition, initiated after the January 2022 takeover, was originally scheduled to conclude with elections in July 2024.

The new charter grants the junta a five-year extension starting July 2024, while also allowing Captain Traoré to stand as a candidate in the delayed elections.

‘We’re not even talking about elections yet’

In October 2025, the junta dissolved the Independent National Electoral Commission (Céni), and in February 2026, it banned all political parties—whose activities had already been suspended. Captain Traoré’s statement underscores the junta’s dismissive stance toward democratic processes.

‘First of all, we’re not even talking about elections (…) people need to forget about democracy—it’s not for us,’ he declared during the April 2 press conference on national broadcaster RTB. ‘We are not in a democracy,’ he had asserted the previous year.

The two-hour interview, broadcast nationally, included journalists from Burkinabè and international outlets such as Italy’s Rai and Britain’s Sky News—a rarity under the current regime.

International media restrictions and political repression

Since taking power, Captain Traoré’s anti-Western, particularly anti-France, military regime has suspended or banned numerous international media outlets and expelled several foreign journalists.

During the interview, Traoré also addressed the case of his predecessor, former Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who seized power in January 2022. Damiba faces charges of masterminding multiple coup attempts and corruption, and was recently extradited from Togo at Burkina Faso’s request.

‘A judge has already seen him (…) he is in the hands of the justice system,’ Traoré stated. Burkina Faso has been plagued by jihadist violence for nearly a decade, resulting in thousands of deaths.

The Burkinabè army and its civilian auxiliary force, the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), have been accused by NGOs of committing abuses against civilians—charges Traoré denied, claiming ‘there is no evidence’ supporting them.

The junta leader also confirmed that Russia, Burkina Faso’s ally, supplies military equipment but does not train Burkinabè forces. ‘On the ground, it’s the Burkinabè soldiers who are fighting,’ he emphasized.