BURKINA FASO’S TRAORÉ STRENGTHENS ISRAEL TIES AS ANTI-WEST RHETORIC CONTINUES

Tue 30 June 2026:

Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the transitional president of Burkina Faso, maintains discreet diplomatic ties with Israel, even while publicly expressing staunchly anti-Western rhetoric, Africa Intelligence reported.

Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso’s transitional president, has quietly approved the accreditation of Israel’s new ambassador to Ouagadougou, Simon Seroussi, who is currently based in Abidjan. The decision came after some delay — the request was submitted in the summer of 2025 and only received the green light in mid-February.

By granting approval, the junta leader is preserving the long-standing diplomatic relationship between Ouagadougou and Israel. Seroussi’s predecessor, diplomat Rony Yedidia Clein, had presented her credentials in December 2023. As of now, the new Israeli ambassador has not yet been formally received in the Burkinabe capital, and no date has been scheduled for Seroussi’s visit to Ouagadougou.

This caution reflects the delicate balance that Traoré must strike. His entourage remains skeptical regarding the public reception of an Israeli diplomat, whilst the captain has built a political image strongly marked by anti-Western rhetoric.

Burkina Faso has participated in study tours and training facilitated by Israel’s international development agency (MASHAV), focusing on entrepreneurship and agricultural development.

Bilateral commerce remains modest. Burkina Faso exports limited agricultural goods like oily seeds and tropical fruits to Israel.

The official framework, based on a general agreement on economic, scientific, technical, and cultural cooperation, aims to expand bilateral trade and development.

Behind the scenes, however, Israeli intelligence services have stepped up exchanges in recent years with their counterparts in the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which are particularly interested in certain security technologies. Israel has long regarded the Sahel as an area of interest, establishing it as a key focus of its deployment on the continent. As early as 2019, Tel Aviv laid the foundations for an unprecedented military partnership with Chad, particularly in the fields of security technology and armaments.

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Traore accepts Trump’s controversial health funding deal

Earlier this year Burkina Faso sign Donald Trump’s controversial health funding deal.

This development has sparked curiosity, not just because of widespread concern about such deals, but also given that Burkina Faso, under President Ibrahim Traoré, has been one of the African countries turning their backs on Western powers in recent years.

Under the deal, the US will provide $147 million while Burkina Faso will contribute $107 million over the next five years.

Such US funding under Trump’s America First Global Health Strategy is reportedly linked to granting Washington access to mineral resources and harvesting personal health data of Africans.

It’s not clear whether those controversial elements are included in the US-Burkina Faso agreement.

Relations between Washington and several Sahel countries had become strained in recent years. The United States suspended much of its development aid and military cooperation after military juntas came to power in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali between 2020 and 2023.

Since the return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency in early 2025, Washington appears to be reshaping its strategy in Africa, placing greater emphasis on economic diplomacy and the expansion of trade relations.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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