Burkinabes mute after 3 years under Captain Traoré’s boot

IN THE three years since Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power, his junta has silenced critics by arresting dissidents or press-ganging them into fighting jihadists.

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Styling himself on former leader Thomas Sankara, a charismatic icon of African rebellion killed in a coup in 1987, the 37-year-old openly defends his anti-imperialist programme and makes no apology for his Burkina Faso “not being a democracy”.

Burkinabes interviewed spoke of rising repression under Traoré, as the west African nation battles a more than decade-long jihadist insurgency, but all requested anonymity out of fear for the consequences of speaking out.

“You can only talk about sport, culture or trivia. As soon as you start talking about politics, everyone falls silent,’ said a resident of the capital Ouagadougou.

“Even within families, brothers have become wary of each other”

According to another local, “since Traoré arrived, one ill-placed or out-of-context word will have you marked out as an enemy”.

Committees of civilian informants watch over Ouagadougou's grand boulevards, ready to report dissidents.

Their presence “shows that everyone spies on and fears everyone else’, a third resident said.