Botswana’s President Duma Boko has announced the visit of Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso’s interim president and military leader
This news has sparked many controversies, as Botswana is known to be one of Africa’s most stable democratic states.
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Botswana, led by President Duma Boko since November 1, 2024, represents a stark contrast to Burkina Faso’s instability.
Boko ended the decades-long dominance of the Botswana Democratic Party in the 2024 elections with his party Umbrella for Democratic Change.
Known for its peace and democratic governance, Botswana has been a regional outlier, but its hosting of a U.S. military base has long been a point of conflict.
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Captain Traoré has also been a polarizing yet influential figure since seizing power in a September 2022 coup, becoming Africa’s youngest head of state.
He has positioned himself as a staunch pan-African and a critic of Western imperialism, drawing comparisons to Burkina Faso’s revolutionary icon Thomas Sankara.
Under his leadership, Burkina Faso has undergone significant shifts, including withdrawing from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in January 2025 alongside Mali and Niger to form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).