World News
Traoré: The Unyielding Voice of Africa’s Awakening
Paris (Imran Y. CHOUDHRY) :- Former Press Secretary to the President, Former Press Minister to the Embassy of Pakistan to France, Former MD, SRBC Mr. Qamar Bashir analysis : Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in West Africa with a population of over 22 million, has long been a battleground for competing global interests. Rich in gold, copper, and other minerals, yet plagued by poverty and conflict, the country has struggled to assert control over its wealth. In September 2022, a bold new leader emerged—Ibrahim Traoré, a 34-year-old army captain—who seized power in a military coup, vowing to reclaim Burkina Faso’s sovereignty from foreign exploitation. Traoré has since become a symbol of resistance, not just for Burkina Faso, but for an entire continent, as he challenges the Western narrative that has long defined Africa’s story.
In a world long manipulated by Western narratives, where the lens of global media has distorted the true image of Africa, a single voice has risen to shatter the illusion—a voice that echoes the suppressed struggles and stolen dreams of an entire continent. That voice belongs to Ibrahim Traoré, the young, fearless leader of Burkina Faso, who is shaking the foundations of global power and calling out the hypocrisy of the so-called saviors of humanity.
It was a fine day when I stumbled upon Traoré’s powerful speech—an unfiltered exposure of the Western media’s stealthy agenda in shaping global perceptions. He spoke not as a polished politician but as a son of Africa, a man who had seen his homeland reduced to a caricature of poverty and despair. Traoré laid bare the ugly truth: for decades, Africa has been portrayed through a narrow, oppressive lens—of starving children with swollen bellies, of violence, corruption, and hopelessness—while the West parades as a benevolent savior, offering aid and charity to uplift the helpless.
But the real story, as Traoré thundered, is one of theft—of minerals, of wealth, of sovereignty. In the name of development, Western corporations and governments have plundered Africa’s rich resources—cobalt, copper, gold, oil—filling their coffers while leaving Africans in abject poverty. He exposed the billion-dollar profits that flow from African soil to Western boardrooms, while African streets remain lined with hunger and neglect. Traoré’s words were not mere rhetoric—they were a battle cry, a call for Africans to reclaim their dignity, to rise as equal partners on the world stage.
His message resonated far beyond Burkina Faso. Traoré has become a symbol of Africa’s collective awakening—a young, enterprising leader who uses every available platform—be it speeches, videos, or direct outreach to global media elites—to amplify the voice of a continent no longer willing to bow to the West. He has called out France, the UK, and the USA for their centuries of exploitation, exposing, in a stunning episode, how the French ambassador to Burkina Faso was caught fleeing with billions in cash, gold, weapons, and detailed maps of the nation’s mineral wealth. The deals struck with Burkina Faso, it turns out, were a sham—showing the government a fraction of the true value, while the real riches were siphoned away in secret.
Traoré also lifted the veil on how foreign journalists, stationed in Africa under the guise of reporting, were in fact spies—embedded agents gathering intelligence for Western corporations and military establishments, ensuring the cycle of plunder and poverty continued uninterrupted. The story of Africa, as dictated by the West, is a lie—a narrative designed to keep the continent weak, dependent, and submissive.
But Traoré is not a man to be silenced. His vision is radical, yet profoundly logical: Africa must control its own resources, build its own industries, and develop its own human capital. He has rejected token gestures of aid—famously turning down an offer from the Saudi king to build 200 mosques in Burkina Faso, saying, “If Gazans can pray without mosques under bombardment, we too can pray without them. What we need are schools, hospitals, laboratories, and technology to feed and empower our people.” His refusal was not an act of defiance against faith, but a statement of priorities: Africa needs tools, not symbols.
Traoré’s stance has made him a target. Western powers are scrambling to understand the implications of his words—how this single voice, carried on the wind across the continent, is stirring a consciousness long suppressed. His message is simple yet revolutionary: Africa will no longer be a playground for foreign interests. It will rise as a dignified, sovereign continent, guided by its own aspirations and led by its own people.
Traoré understands that Africa’s wealth is meaningless without the capacity to harness it. He has called on the African diaspora—doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, who have thrived abroad—to return home, to lend their expertise and build the foundations of an independent Africa. He knows that extracting resources requires technology, capital, and skilled human resources—assets that have long been controlled by Western corporations. But he is determined to forge new partnerships—with China, Russia, the Muslim world—based on mutual respect and shared progress, not exploitation.
Burkina Faso, under Traoré’s leadership, is no longer content to be a passive supplier of raw materials. The vision is clear: build the refineries, the factories, the universities, the research centers. Educate the youth, empower the women, and create an economy that serves the people, not foreign shareholders. Traoré’s fight is not just for Burkina Faso—it is for Africa. It is for every nation that has been told its place is at the bottom of the global ladder, for every community robbed of its future, for every family left hungry while their soil enriches others.
In Traoré’s eyes, the future of Africa is not one of handouts and dependency. It is a future of self-reliance, dignity, and justice. He is a man who refuses to be a pawn in the global game—a man who stands tall against the tides of history, declaring that Africa’s time has come, and it will no longer be silenced.
The world may not yet fully grasp the power of Ibrahim Traoré’s vision, but one thing is certain: a storm is brewing in Africa, and it carries the name of a young captain from Burkina Faso who dares to dream of a continent free from chains.
A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of one of the richest passengers on the Titanic is expected to fetch £1m at auction.
Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were among the more than 1,500 people who died when the vessel travelling from Southampton to New York sank after hitting an iceberg on 14 April 1912.
His body was recovered from the Atlantic days after the disaster and among his possessions was an 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch that will go under the hammer on 22 November.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, told BBC Radio Wiltshire: “With the watch, we are retelling Isidor’s story. It’s a phenomenal piece of memorabilia.”
Mr Straus was a Bavarian-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy’s department store in New York.
“They were a very famous New York couple,” said Mr Aldridge.
“Everyone would know them from the end of James Cameron’s Titanic movie, when there is an elderly couple hugging as the ship is sinking – that’s Isidor and Ida.”
On the night of the sinking, it is believed his devoted wife refused a place in a lifeboat as she did not want to leave her husband and said she would rather die by his side.
Ida’s body was never found.
The pocket watch stopped at 02:20, the moment the Titanic disappeared beneath the waves.
It is believed to have been a gift from Ida to her husband in 1888 and is engraved with Straus’ initials.
It was returned to his family and was passed down through generations before Kenneth Hollister Straus, Isidor’s great-grandson, had the movement repaired and restored.
It will be sold alongside a rare letter Ida wrote aboard the liner describing its luxury.
She wrote: “What a ship! So huge and so magnificently appointed. Our rooms are furnished in the best of taste and most luxurious.”
The letter is postmarked “TransAtlantic 7” meaning it was franked on board in the Titanic’s post office before being taken off with other mail at Queenstown, Ireland.
Both items will be offered by Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, with the letter estimated to fetch £150,000.
The watch is set to become one of the most expensive Titanic artefacts ever sold.
The auction house said news of the sale had already generated “significant interest from clients all over the world”.
“Theirs was the ultimate love story – Isidor epitomised the American Dream, rising from humble immigrant to a titan of the New York establishment, owning Macy’s department store,” a spokesperson for the auction house said.
“As the ship was sinking, despite being offered a seat in a lifeboat, Ida refused to leave her husband and stated to him ‘Isidor we have been together all of these years, where you go, I go’.”
The spokesperson added: “This is the reason why collectors are interested in the Titanic story 113 years later – every man, woman and child had a story to tell and those stories now are retold through these objects.”
A gold pocket watch presented to the captain of the Carpathia, the steamship which rescued more than 700 Titanic survivors, sold last year a record-breaking £1.56m.
Ukraine’s energy and justice ministers have resigned in the wake of a major investigation into corruption in the country’s energy sector.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko’s removal on Wednesday.
On Monday anti-corruption bodies accused several people of orchestrating a embezzlement scheme in the energy sector worth about $100m (£76m), including at the national nuclear operator Enerhoatom.
Some of those implicated in the scandal are – or have been – close associates of Zelensky’s.
The allegation is that Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and other key ministers and officials received payments from contractors building fortifications against Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
Among those alleged to be involved are former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov and Timur Mindich – a businessman and a co-owner of Zelensky’s former TV studio Kvartal95. He has since reportedly fled the country.
Halushchenko said he would defend himself against the accusations, while Grynchuk said on social media: “Within the scope of my professional activities there were no violations of the law.”
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (Nabu) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sap) said the investigation – which was 15 months in the making and involved 1,000 hours of audio recordings – uncovered the participation of several members of the Ukrainian government.
According to Nabu, the people involved systematically collected kickbacks from Enerhoatom contractors worth between 10% and 15% of contract values.
The anti-corruption bodies also said the huge sums had been laundered in the scheme and published photographs of bags full of cash. The funds were then transferred outside Ukraine, including to Russia, Nabu said.
Prosecutors alleged that the scheme’s proceeds were laundered through an office in Kyiv linked to the family of former Ukrainian lawmaker and current Russian senator Andriy Derkach.
Nabu has been releasing new snippets of its investigation and wiretaps every day and on Tuesday it promised more would come.
The scandal is unfolding against the backdrop of escalating Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, including substations that supply electricity to nuclear power plants.
It will also shine a spotlight on corruption in Ukraine, which continues to be endemic despite work by Nabu and Sap in the 10 years since they were created.
In July, nationwide protests broke out over changes curbing the independence of Nabu and Sap. Ukrainians feared the nation could lose the coveted status of EU candidate country which it was granted on condition it mounted a credible fight against corruption.
Kyiv’s European partners also expressed severe alarm at the decision, with ambassadors from the G7 group of nations expressing the desire to discuss the issue with the Ukrainian leadership.
The backlash was the most severe to hit the Ukrainian government since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and was only quelled by Zelensky’s decision to reinstate the freedom of the two anti-corruption bodies.
Yet for some that crisis brought into question Zelensky’s dedication to anti-corruption reforms. The latest scandal threatens to lead to more awkward questions for the Ukrainian president.
The public prosecutor’s office in Milan has opened an investigation into claims that Italian citizens travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina on “sniper safaris” during the war in the early 1990s.
Italians and others are alleged to have paid large sums to shoot at civilians in the besieged city of Sarajevo.
The Milan complaint was filed by journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni, who describes a “manhunt” by “very wealthy people” with a passion for weapons who “paid to be able to kill defenceless civilians” from Serb positions in the hills around Sarajevo.
Different rates were charged to kill men, women or children, according to some reports.
More than 11,000 people died during the brutal four-year siege of Sarejevo.
Yugoslavia was torn apart by war and the city was surrounded by Serb forces and subjected to constant shelling and sniper fire.
Similar allegations about “human hunters” from abroad have been made several times over the years, but the evidence gathered by Gavazzeni, which includes the testimony of a Bosnian military intelligence officer, is now being examined by Italian counter terrorism prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis.
The charge is murder.
The Bosnian officer apparently revealed that his Bosnian colleagues found out about the so-called safaris in late 1993 and then passed on the information to Italy’s Sismi military intelligence in early 1994.
The response from Sismi came a couple of months later, he said. They found out that “safari” tourists would fly from the northern Italian border city of Trieste and then travel to the hills above Sarajevo.
“We’ve put a stop to it and there won’t be any more safaris,” the officer was told, according to Ansa news agency. Within two to three months the trips had stopped.
Ezio Gavazzeni, who usually writes about terrorism and the mafia, first read about the sniper tours to Sarajevo three decades ago when Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported the story, but without firm evidence.
He returned to the topic after seeing “Sarajevo Safari”, a documentary film from 2022 by Slovenian director Miran Zupanic which alleges that those involved in the killings came from several countries, including the US and Russia as well as Italy.
Gavazzeni began to dig further and in February handed prosecutors his findings, said to amount to a 17-page file including a report by former Sarajevo mayor Benjamina Karic.
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