Do we like them?

Do we like Ibrahim Traoré?

Our score: 2 out of 10. A government under him outlawed same-sex conduct and rights groups document a crackdown on critics, with little verified good to set against it.

Traoré is a soldier who rose through the fight against the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso's north. He became head of state in October 2022, aged 34, after a second coup that year pushed out the earlier junta leader. That made him one of the youngest national leaders in the world.

Power has not been settled for him. In January 2026 his government said it had foiled a coup and assassination plot and blamed a former transitional president, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Outside analysts have questioned parts of that account, and it's hard to check independently from here.

On the harm check, the transitional parliament voted through a law in September 2025 making same-sex conduct punishable by prison, with the state broadcaster reporting terms of two to five years. Outlets differed on whether Traoré had personally signed it at that point. He leads the government that brought it in, and we found no words of his own on it, but acts by the government he runs count here.

In April 2026 he told state media that democracy isn't for Burkinabe, as rule was extended to 2029. Human Rights Watch says the junta has conscripted at least a dozen journalists, activists and opposition figures into the army, and the government has confirmed that three journalists were drafted. Authorities have defended the practice as part of the anti-jihadist fight, and rights groups reject that.

Human Rights Watch alleges that about 1,837 civilians were killed in 57 incidents between January 2023 and August 2025, including more than 400 in Djibo in December 2023, which it attributes to the army and allied militias. The authorities hadn't responded to that report and have rejected earlier accusations of this kind. These are the rights group's findings, not court rulings.

Not everything online about him is true, and that cuts both ways. A viral graphic in May 2026 claimed he had accused Kenya's and France's presidents of plotting to kill him, and a fact-check found no evidence he said it. We hold nothing against him for fake quotes, but we also couldn't verify any charity or personal kindness. That's honestly the thin side of the list.