In Burkina Faso, the line between fighting armed extremism and suppressing religious freedoms has never been so blurred. Under the guise of rooting out the terrorist threat undermining the country, the transitional government led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré has launched a strategy of control and repression of unprecedented violence against the Muslim community, which is the majority in the country. Behind official rhetoric about “national security,” a veritable takeover of Burkina Faso’s Islamic figures and institutions is being orchestrated from Ouagadougou.
Arrests, closures, and the taming of imams
For several months, security rhetoric has served as a convenient justification for hunting down independent religious voices. Moderate imams, influential preachers, and leaders of Muslim associations have been subjected to arbitrary arrests, secret detentions, or forced conscription into the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP). Their only crime: criticizing the junta’s methods, questioning the handling of the security crisis, or simply calling for the preservation of civil rights.
At the same time, mosques and Quranic schools in high-security-risk areas face drastic controls, arbitrary administrative closures, or systematic accusations of collusion with armed groups. By indiscriminately labeling any unaligned religious discourse as “subversive” or “complicit with the enemy,” the ruling authorities have instilled a climate of terror within a religious community historically recognized for its role in mediation and social cohesion.
Political instrumentalization and the fracturing of national cohesion
This iron-fisted policy pursues a clear objective: neutralizing any social force capable of articulating structured opposition to military rule. By primarily targeting networks and figures of local Islam, the transitional regime seeks to impose a single line of thought and lock down the public space.
Far from weakening the jihadist groups ravaging the region, this brutal offensive against religious practice risks producing the opposite effect. By stigmatizing the Muslim community, breaking customary and spiritual relays, and depriving the faithful of moderate reference figures, the authorities fuel a sense of injustice and alienation. By turning religion into an internal enemy under the cover of sovereignty and security, Ibrahim Traoré takes the major risk of atomizing the social fabric of a country already on its last legs.
