Burkina Faso: President Ibrahim Traoré’s campaign for an Africa in control of its own resources
There was a time when plundering was done in uniform. Today, it is done in suits, with a governance report, a donors’ conference, and a compassionate smile.
The order established by Western powers has not abolished tutelage: it has modernized it, given it soothing vocabulary and after-sales service.
Paternalism is its cornerstone. The South, we are told, must be “accompanied,” “advised,” “strengthened in its capacities.”
As if peoples who built empires, universities, and trans-Saharan trade routes were waiting to receive their permit to govern. Diktat always presents itself as a good father: “It’s for your own good.”
Then comes condescension, that refinement of domination. African countries are “fragile,” “emerging,” “in transition,” never simply sovereign.
Experts land, discover obvious truths that populations have known for generations, and bill them as consultancy.
Recognition, meanwhile, is handed out in homeopathic doses: a grudging pat on the back, a polite greeting when one obeys, “deep concern” as soon as one stops. Compliments are light; levies are heavy.
For behind the words are the deeds. Gold, uranium, lithium, manganese, cocoa leave the continent by the ton, while added value travels in business class but never toward us.
They extract from us, process in their own countries, and then sell us the finished product with a speech about good governance. Systematic plundering no longer even needs to hide: it has contracts, stability clauses, and corporate lawyers.
It is in this context that Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s Burkina Faso shakes up the table.
Renegotiating mining contracts, raising the state’s share of gold, speaking of economic colonialism and pan-African sovereignty: for the guardians, it is rudeness; for millions of Africans, it is finally obvious.
The West can continue to use its paternalistic language, to draw Africa’s borders from the plush drawing rooms of Paris, London, and Washington. But Africa is waking up. Traoré’s bet is simple: this time, the continent is ready. Economic sovereignty is not a slogan; it is the only path to survival.
The twilight of the old order has arrived. The West can choose to withdraw with dignity, or to be crushed by the course of history. The choice is its own. But Africa’s future will no longer be written by its hand.
Cédric KABORE
