Burkina Faso Junta Intensifies Crackdown on Critics

Burkina Faso’s military rulers have intensified a crackdown on critics, targeting prominent figures, worshippers, and students who question the junta’s authority.

Last week, influential Sunni imam Mohamad Ishaq Kindo was detained and taken to an undisclosed location, drawing widespread condemnation. Kindo, previously a supporter of the regime, criticised a draft law regulating religious freedoms in a country where approximately 60 per cent of the population is Muslim.

“The terror has reached its peak,” an ally of the imam told AFP, describing the arrest as excessive.

“Brutally abducting a religious leader and preventing worshippers from gathering for prayer by firing tear gas even inside the mosque is taking things way too far.”

Images circulating on social media later showed the imam’s supporters, some of whom had protested his arrest, dressed in military uniforms and undergoing physical training at a capital-based camp.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, who seized power nearly four years ago, openly rejects the label of a democratic leader. His social media supporters routinely applaud the detention and abduction of those challenging the junta’s so-called “popular progressive revolution.”

Burkina Faso Leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore

Masked men, often in civilian clothing, have become a common presence in the arrests of critics, including those questioning the government’s handling of insurgent violence, which has plagued the West African country for over a decade.

Students have also been targeted. The General Union of Students of Burkina (Ugeb) was suspended and its leader arrested after condemning arbitrary arrests and highlighting the junta’s inability to restore security.

“What this regime wants is the elimination of all student movements and the establishment of a single, uniform way of thinking,” a union official said.

Despite the arrests, some Burkinabè have begun speaking out more openly. A researcher in Ouagadougou said Kindo’s detention reflects the junta’s effort to strictly control religious discourse, yet warned that public demonstrations are unlikely to erode the regime’s support within the Muslim community.