During a recent appearance on national television, Defence Minister General Célestin Simporé attempted to justify the current security decline by claiming Burkina Faso’s army was historically “poorly trained.” This statement, aimed at praising Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s security record, has sparked widespread skepticism. The public now wonders: how did the supposedly deficient army of the past manage to contain the enemy more effectively than today’s “new army,” which has been re-trained by Moscow and heavily equipped with billions of dollars?
Rewriting history to conceal the present collapse
By repeatedly asserting on the national channel that the armed forces lacked tactical instruction and operational preparation before the transition, General Simporé attempts to construct a simplistic narrative: today’s failures are merely yesterday’s legacy.
Yet the facts are stubborn. Under previous regimes, despite a glaring lack of material resources and undeniable structural weaknesses, the military managed to hold provincial capitals and maintain coherent territorial defence lines. Today, even as the transitional government boasts of creating over 30 new battalions and placing military training at the heart of its agenda, effective state control has collapsed across more than 65% of the national territory.
The resounding failure of the Russian training doctrine
To replace the old training model, Ibrahim Traoré’s regime threw itself into the arms of Russian Africa Corps soldiers. The result of this “downgrade”? A sharp rise in lethality on the front lines:
- An appalling human toll: The massacres are countless. From the Mansila tragedy to recent setbacks in the Centre-Nord region, hastily formed units are paying an unprecedented blood tribute.
- Inability to counter asymmetric warfare: The Russian training method, focused on frontal brutality and indiscriminate firepower, proves utterly ineffective against mobile terrorist armed groups (GATs) operating in small motorcycle columns and using improvised explosive devices.
- Rupture with local populations: By sacrificing contact intelligence and military ethics in favour of a scorched-earth approach, the new doctrine has alienated rural communities, depriving soldiers of the most effective shield against terrorist infiltration: citizen information.
An insult to the sacrifice of rank-and-file soldiers
Declaring on a television set that troops were “poorly trained” is an insult to the memory of thousands of soldiers and gendarmes who fell in combat over the past decade. With rudimentary means and limited rations, these men held the line against an emerging threat without ever abandoning entire regions—unlike today, where such retreats are masked as “tactical evacuations,” as seen in the Boussouma drama.
General Simporé’s admission on national TV convinces no one. Two years after Captain Traoré’s absolute seizure of power, blaming yesterday’s training is an admission of impotence. It is not yesterday’s weapons that lacked value; it is today’s strategy that is collapsing under the weight of propaganda.
