Capt Ibrahim Traoré: Why Burkina Faso's junta leader has captured hearts and minds around the world

Capt Ibrahim Traoré, 37, is portraying himself as a champion of pan-Africanism.
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His message has resonated across Africa and beyond, with his admirers seeing him as following in the footsteps of African heroes like Burkina Faso's very own Thomas Sankara - a Marxist revolutionary who is sometimes referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara".
"Traoré's impact is huge. I have even heard politicians and authors in countries like Kenya [in East Africa] say: 'This is it. He is the man'," Beverly Ochieng, a senior researcher at global consultancy firm Control Risks, told the BBC.
"His messages reflect the age we are living in, when many Africans are questioning the relationship with the West, and why there is still so much poverty in such a resource-rich continent," she said.
After seizing power in a coup in 2022, Traoré's regime ditched former colonial power France in favour of a strong alliance with Russia, that has included the deployment of a Russian paramilitary brigade, and adopted left-wing economic policies.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1egely9v3go
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