When Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso on 30 September 2022 by toppling Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, he promised a radical break with the past. Four years on, the junta leader portrays his tenure as a story of territorial reconquest, a strengthened army, restored national sovereignty and a clean rupture with several Western partners. Yet beneath that carefully managed narrative, a closer look reveals a far more complicated reality — one shaped by persistent insecurity, mass displacement and a steadily shrinking civic space.
How the counter-insurgency strategy was built
From his first days in office, Traoré made the fight against jihadist groups his defining priority. His government poured resources into the armed forces and expanded the Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie (VDP), civilian auxiliaries tasked with backing up the military on the ground.
Officials insist that several areas once controlled or threatened by armed groups have been retaken. The junta also points to growing military capabilities and the mobilisation of ordinary citizens as the twin pillars of its security doctrine. But the underlying dynamic is more ambiguous than the official line suggests: state control has been reasserted in some zones, yet the violence has not disappeared. Armed groups continue to strike at security forces and civilians alike, and analysts tracking the conflict note that jihadist factions retain a significant capacity to act across the country.
The result is a paradox at the heart of the Traoré era: the state claims to have expanded its territorial grip, but daily life in many regions remains defined by the threat of attack.
The displacement crisis: over two million people uprooted
Perhaps the heaviest measure of the conflict is the sheer scale of human displacement. By the end of 2025, more than two million people were internally displaced within Burkina Faso, according to UNHCR data, with refugees and asylum seekers adding to the toll. The agency’s October–December 2025 figures put the number of internally displaced persons at just over 2.06 million.
Jihadist attacks are not the only driver. Human Rights Watch has documented violence by government forces and VDP auxiliaries against civilians accused of supporting armed groups. The organisation says it recorded attacks that killed at least 1,800 civilians between 2023 and 2025, while stressing that abuses have been committed by multiple parties to the conflict.
The plight of the displaced captures a central flaw in the security record: retaking territory does not automatically mean that the people living there are safe.
Press freedom under mounting pressure
Another stark rupture of the Traoré years concerns the media. The authorities justify restrictions by citing the war effort and the need to protect morale among troops and the public. Press freedom organisations, however, describe a dramatic narrowing of the information space.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says several journalists have been arrested, abducted or requisitioned into the armed forces. In 2025 alone, the group documented multiple cases of forced enlistment and reported that eight journalists were questioned by security services during October.
The case of Atiana Serge Oulon, publication director of the newspaper L’Événement, has become emblematic. Abducted in June 2024, he was presented by the authorities as having been requisitioned to serve in the army. A 2026 investigation by RSF, however, claims he was secretly held in Ouagadougou rather than sent to the front, contradicting the official account.
Forced enlistment as a tool of control?
The issue of forced conscription extends well beyond journalists. Human Rights Watch reports that dozens of government critics have been requisitioned and sent to combat zones. The organisation believes the practice has affected journalists, civil society activists, opponents and magistrates.
The phenomenon is especially sensitive because it blurs the line between national mobilisation and political punishment. In a wartime context, the state has legitimate mechanisms for national defence. But human rights groups stress that such procedures must respect legal safeguards and allow those concerned to challenge their assignments.
Sovereignty as a political project — and its costs
Traoré, for his part, champions a vision built on sovereignty and a break from old dependencies. Burkina Faso has distanced itself from France, deepened ties with Russia and moved closer to Mali and Niger within the Alliance of Sahel States. The government also highlights policies aimed at processing resources locally, particularly in the mining sector.
Yet this assertion of sovereignty has come alongside a contraction of political and civic space. According to several organisations, journalists, activists, opponents and human rights defenders have been arrested, detained or forced into exile.
Four years on, an unfinished ledger
Four years after the September 2022 coup, Traoré’s record resists any single interpretation. His government can point to the militarisation of the counter-insurgency, the mobilisation of the VDP, the pursuit of greater strategic autonomy and some economic advances.
But the displacement figures, the persistence of attacks and allegations of abuses against civilians show that the security crisis remains deep. At the same time, the arrests of journalists, the disappearances and the forced enlistments documented by international organisations raise a troubling question about the price being paid in the name of war.
In Burkina Faso, after four years of military rule, the challenge is twofold: reconquering territory — and ensuring that reconquest does not come at the cost of rights and the protection of the people who live there.
