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Claim: A Facebook page, “United Africa,” claimed that Burkina Faso’s interim president, Ibrahim Traore, declined an invitation to President Trump’s inauguration.
Verdict: False! DUBAWA found no report or media publication detailing that the military leader received an invitation from the White House to attend President Trump’s inauguration or his decision to decline the alleged invitation. Besides, credible media outlets never mentioned the inclusion of any African leader in the presidential inaugural ceremony guest list.
Full Text
On Monday, Jan. 20, 2024, President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, which has witnessed tremendous government policy changes and far-right government dominance.
Significantly, President Trump’s inaugural ceremony, which was held in the Capitol’s Rotunda for the first time, saw the invitation of foreign leaders, including far-right political leaders— Argentina’s President, Javier Milei, and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.
Closely related to the past development, a Facebook page, United Africa, claimed that Burkina Faso’s interim president, Ibrahim Traore, was invited to President Trump’s presidential inaugural ceremony on Jan. 20, 2025, but allegedly declined the invitation, stating the need to focus on local responsibilities.
The Facebook user, which has over 251,000 followers, wrote alongside the image of President Trump and President Taore, “Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the interim President of Burkina Faso, has declined an invitation from the U.S. President Donald Trump to attend his inauguration, citing pressing domestic responsibilities and the ongoing fight against terrorism within Burkina Faso.”
“Given these pressing issues, Traoré has prioritised domestic affairs over international engagements, underscoring his commitment to addressing the security and humanitarian challenges within Burkina Faso,” another cogent part of the post read.
As of Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, the post has garnered about 2,500 reactions, 490 comments, and shared 695 times.
Meanwhile, this post was shared on other social accounts such as Facebook (here, here, here, and here) and X (here and here).
DUBAWA noticed other Facebook users commended the military leader who seized power from his predecessor, Paul-Henri Damiba, on Sept. 30, 2022.
“It serves no purpose to attend a function that has nothing to do with him or his people,” Courtney Chin asserted.
Another user, Hiloni RM, suggested, “The General must just open a school and teach how to be president. ”
“God bless this president. He is the best president of Africa,” Atikou Gao wrote.
DUBAWA decided to verify the post due to the high-profile personalities involved and the claims spread across social media platforms.
Verification
To authenticate this assertion, we thoroughly checked President Trump’s inaugural guest list but did not find President Traore as an invitee.
Al Jazeera also published a list of notable attendees from all walks of life who attended the ceremony and popular world leaders who were sidelined and not invited to it. The Burkina Faso military leader was not mentioned.
American Online also reports that despite President Trump’s invitation to world leaders across Europe and Asia, no African head of state was invited to the ceremony.
Furthermore, we checked if any reputable news outlet reported the White House’s invitation of President Traore to the presidential inaugural ceremony or his alleged decision to turn down the invitation, but we did not find any.
Conclusion
The claim that Burkina Faso’s president, Ibrahim Traore, declined an invitation to attend President Trump’s inauguration is false.
