Burkina Faso’s new path: local resources, global criticism, and improved lives

Prof. Kwesi Aning, Head of the Office for International Cooperation at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), has praised the leadership of Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traoré for improving food security and public welfare in the country.

Speaking on The Point of View with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV, Prof. Aning said that Traoré’s government has made visible progress, especially in areas that were previously facing hunger and hardship. “In Burkina Faso, the gold mines have been nationalised. We’re seeing roads being built. Hectares are being given to farmers. Even more importantly, food security has improved,” he said.

He added that in areas where children used to suffer from hunger and malnutrition, conditions have now improved. “In regions where children were starving and couldn’t concentrate on their education and were being destroyed by ‘kwashiorkor’, now they can live… It raises questions about how the narrative is being created by the West and in the West,” he added.

Prof. Aning believes that President Traoré and other Sahelian leaders are changing the way governance is approached in West Africa. He compared Traoré’s vision to that of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

“The only problem of Ibrahim Traoré and the Nigerien leader is that they are using their resources for their people… Traoré suddenly encapsulates all these epochs driving together, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to raise critical questions and to bring a different and new understanding to what development and security means,” he said.

He also criticised Western nations for failing to deal with terrorism and extremism in the region, despite their long presence there. “All these western countries who are making noise about terrorism and extremism, they have been in these three countries for decades, they couldn’t bring the issues under control,” he noted.

“Overnight, when these guys took over, the terrorists have become much more powerful, with better equipment, more mobile, with great intelligence access, and where is it coming from?” he questioned.

On Burkina Faso’s growing ties with Russia, Prof. Aning said the country has every right to choose its allies. “All those who are criticising Burkina Faso for dealing with Russia… are still doing business with Russia,” he argued. “I think it’s up to the leadership of Burkina Faso to determine who are their best friends,” he concluded.