Play as · WW3 2026 · L1 · AES military transition

Burkina Faso - 2026

Burkina Faso enters September 2026 under Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who took power in the September 2022 coup and remains president of the military transition. He also holds the rotating presidency of the Confederation of Sahel States, linking Burkina Faso's strategy directly to Mali and Niger. Their withdrawal from ECOWAS became effective on 29 January 2025, so the AES is now more than protest rhetoric: it must carry part of the diplomatic, economic and security work once conducted through the larger bloc. In July 2026, AES defence ministers met Traoré in Ouagadougou to advance the legal and operational framework of a unified force that officials described as already functional. This gives you a regional instrument, but not automatic control of the battlefield. JNIM and Islamic State Sahel attacks, disrupted roads and displaced communities continue to test state presence across the north and east. Official claims of recovery and popular mobilization must be checked against whether markets reopen, schools stay open and civilians can return safely. Your opening authority is politically concentrated and highly visible; its survival depends on converting revolutionary language into dependable government beyond Ouagadougou.

Starting position

The armed forces fight beside a greatly expanded network of Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland. The VDP provide numbers, local knowledge and a way for threatened communities to resist, but uneven training and command create risks of retaliation, communal targeting and abuses that can strengthen insurgent recruitment. Drones and new equipment can strike or observe remote positions; they cannot hold a road, investigate a complaint or restore a prefecture after combat. Build operations around protected supply routes, disciplined intelligence and permanent civilian follow-through. Millions of displaced people and residents cut off from services need documentation, land access, schools and clinics as well as physical security. Economically, gold supplies crucial exports and public revenue, while cotton, livestock and regional trade support far more households. State participation in mining and new industrial projects may retain value domestically, but opaque levies or abrupt rules can reduce production and invite smuggling. Fuel, machinery and seaborne imports still travel through coastal neighbours. Leaving ECOWAS has not changed that geography, so workable customs and transport relations with Ghana, Togo, Benin and Côte d'Ivoire remain strategic necessities.

What turns the campaign

Your first turns decide how AES leadership affects the war. Pool intelligence and cross-border pursuit with Mali and Niger, or preserve scarce units for districts whose loss would sever Burkina Faso's own transport network. A unified force can deny militants easy movement across frontiers, yet unclear command or unpaid logistics can make it symbolic. Set common rules for detention, civilian protection and reporting before joint operations create grievances that no member accepts responsibility for. At home, Traoré's government promotes popular mobilization, sovereignty and the legacy of Thomas Sankara. That message can sustain sacrifice and recruit public effort, but civic enthusiasm is not evidence that every policy works. Protect channels through which journalists, customary authorities, religious leaders and displaced families can report failure without being treated as enemies. Prioritize roads by the food, medicine and commerce they restore, rather than by the publicity of the town retaken. Negotiate local security with communities while preventing volunteers from becoming unaccountable gatekeepers. The political transition has been extended and ordinary electoral competition is constrained, so performance carries an unusually heavy burden of legitimacy. Each delay in restoring courts and services makes emergency military rule look permanent.

Signature challenge