In Burkina Faso, thousands of people rallied in support of interim President Ibrahim Traoré Wednesday, after military rulers said they foiled a plot to overthrow his transitional government. Traoré seized power after a 2022 coup and moved to end military ties with former colonizer France. Protesters also condemned recent comments by General Michael Langley, head of the U.S. military’s Africa Command, who accused Traoré of using Burkina Faso’s gold reserves to benefit himself rather than the people. This is a protester in Ouagadougou.

Salifou Ouédraogo: “Words like 'democracy,' 'human rights,' no one can teach that in Africa. The African continent was the first continent that produced democracy, but not that of the West, which consists of burning countries, burning continents that do not think like them. Here we are today so that our country remains standing, so that our continent remains standing.”