“My biggest regret is that I spent a big part of my youth listening to radio stations like RFI and France 24.”

In an interview with RT in May, Ibrahim Traoré, who has served as the interim president of Burkina Faso since a military coup in 2022, voiced his concerns about the impact Western media, especially French radio stations, is having on the minds of African youths.

Stating that his “biggest regret” was spending his youth listening to the news conveyed on French radio stations like RFI and France 24, Traoré said he had now woken up to the harsh realities of listening unquestioningly to narratives from any one side.

“I began to realise that they are conditioning our brains to accept what they want. It’s their narrative they want us to learn,” he added.

The young African leader called on news channels like RT to balance this narrative effect and contribute to “awakening the consciousness” of the youth so that people understand how the world actually works.

In September 2022, Traoré led a coup against then-Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, and at the age of 34, he became Burkina Faso’s youngest head of state, surpassing Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré, also becoming the world’s youngest head of state at the time.

During his tenure, Traoré has sought to distance his country from its former colonial power, France, and played an instrumental role in founding the Alliance of Sahel States, which includes Mali and Niger — both of which were formerly French colonies and underwent their own military coups in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

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