As hundreds of thousands of people came out in support of Captain Ibrahim Traoré worldwide on 30th April, a new voice created a sensation.
This was the voice of the Italian Prime Minister, Georgia
Meloni. With a resounding vote of confidence, she openly and publicly voiced
her support and backing for Captain Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso. She called
him an astonishing leader who was guiding and leading his people on the path of
independence, sovereignty, and dignity.
She also fiercely condemned France and, in particular, the
French CFA currency for its stranglehold* on Burkina Faso and the other 13
former French colonies in Africa. Calling it unethical and a system of
"legalised" blackmail and exploitation.
*To see how France maintained
pressure and control over its former colonies, we must consider this fact.
Say a businessman from Burkina
Faso orders goods worth US5 million from, say, Chad or Nigeria, etc. To pay for
the goods, his government must apply to the French Treasury for its approval
and remittance of this payment.
The Burkina Faso government could
not pay this amount directly through its own banking system. Why? Simply
because France refused to allow its former colonies to have their own central
banks, even though they were supposedly independent sovereign nations.
That’s how degrading,
exploitative, and controlling the French control was and is in many of these
countries. (Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have broken away from this chained
arrangement. They have set up their own central banks.)
This public announcement has created a massive upheaval in
diplomatic circles. It was unheard of for a leader—especially one from the
"elite" G7 nations—to make such a powerful statement openly and
without restraint. This went against all established protocol. Nonetheless,
Prime Minister Georgia Meloni of Italy felt that this open support for Captain
Ibrahim Traoré was the right thing to do.
It might cost her greatly. France, for one, and America are
going to be very upset. America would be boiling mad, as her frank and honest
admiration for Captain Ibrahim Traoré runs contrary to the bad image and poor
security concerns they have been falsely creating around Burkina Faso and its
dynamic leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré. It demolishes their own narratives and
lies by her words.
Of course, the people of Burkina Faso and other African
nations welcome her statements, as it validates and upholds Captain Ibrahim
Traoré's success story and their belief in him.
The second "breaking story" is a sensational
misinformation campaign. Here, the Americans fed into the internet that
American troops had landed in Burkina Faso, giving the impression that an
American invasion of Burkina Faso was on the way.
This was nothing more than a fear scam to generate fear and
panic among the people, with the hope that people would become demoralised and
more susceptible to brainwashing and temptation—leading to them joining the
insurgents or any other traitors who might sell out their country.
The timing of this silly trouble-stirring disinformation
campaign was stupid. For the people of Burkina Faso had just been further
energised into a more patriotic fervour and an outpouring of support for
Captain Ibrahim Traoré just days before. Thus, they were more vigilant and wary
of such treacherous claims.
More so, when they were celebrating the great endorsement of
their President, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, by none other than the Italian Prime
Minister, Georgia Meloni—who, it must not be forgotten, was one of G7’s
formidable partners and a very independently outspoken stateswoman of Europe.
Thus, this poorly disguised misinformation tactic was largely ignored and dismissed for what it is.
© Vijaya Ratnam
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