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Claim: A Facebook user shared a video showing Ibrahim Traore, Burkina Faso’s president, urging African youths to claim power through revolution and bypass elections.
Verdict: FALSE. Analyses revealed that the video was generated with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also, no credible media organisation reported that Traore made such a statement.
Full Text
Yoweri Museveni’s recent election victory in Uganda, the seventh of such since he came to power in 1986, came amid reports of internet shutdown and electoral fraud from his opposition, 43-year-old Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine).
In response, a Facebook page, The Broadcasting Tower, shared a video (archived here) on Jan. 17, 2026, supposedly showing Burkina Faso’s military leader, Ibrahim Traore, addressing an audience. In the video, he supposedly urged African youths to seize power and bypass elections, calling them “democratic rituals.”
As of Jan. 22, 2026, the 15-minute, nine-second video had over 1,800 reactions, 191 comments, 269 reshares, and 81 bookmarks.
The video also went viral here, here, and here.
Facebook users who commented on the post expressed diverse opinions on the video’s authenticity.
Korson Wani, a Facebook user, agreed that Africa needs revolution, not democracy. “The government in power sets the system to fit its own narratives. May God bless Ibrahim Traore,” Korson said.
Kasaija Emmanuel commended Traore, stating, “The man is very bright; he can talk.”
While appreciating Traore’s words, Ssegonje Faisal said, “You are the only president in Africa as a continent who is awake; others are sleeping and dormant.”
However, some users raised an alarm that the video was generated using Artificial intelligence (AI).
For instance, Sande Musa said, “AI is finishing us,” while Kab Stella said, “We are dead, AI is killing us.”
Masauto Banda questioned, “Was he reading or was it from his brain transferring to his mouth? Or was it AI?”
The post’s implications for democracy in Africa, amid recent cases of political instability, prompted DUBAWA to fact-check the information.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted a manual analysis of the video and identified traits common to AI-generated videos.
In the video, Traore’s body movements are inconsistent with his speech, and his unnatural gestures seem robotic and repetitive. Also, the voice detected in the video differed from Traore’s natural voice. Also, although Traore has some proficiency in English, he mainly speaks in French and Dioula.
When we used Truthscan AI to analyse his speech, we found it was generated with AI. The tool provided a mixed verdict, indicating that parts of the audio were 99% generated with AI.
Screenshot of the audio’s analysis on TruthScan AI
Just like the voice in the video, the speech was monotonous and generic, deploying certain phrases commonly associated with AI-generated texts. Words like “repetition,” “patterns,” “structure,” and “legitimacy” were repeated to imitate a revolutionary speech rather than reacting to a specific event.
When we used Undetectable AI to analyse the speech, it revealed a 97% probability that it was AI-generated.
Screenshot of the speech’s analysis on Undetectable AI
We also observed that the people in the video were unnaturally still and motionless. All persons maintained the same facial expressions and body postures throughout the video.
Using Attestiv Video Deepfake Detector to analyse the video, we observed a high prevalence of face replacement and inauthentic visual generation. These are clear traits regularly seen in AI-generated visual content.
Screenshot of the video’s analysis on Attestiv Video
Lastly, no credible media organisation reported that Traore made a speech on anything relating to Uganda after the election. Traore’s most recent appearance was when he became the chair of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) on Dec. 23, 2025.
Conclusion
Analyses conducted revealed that the viral video bore traits of AI-generated content. Also, no credible media organisation reported that Traore gave such a speech recently. Therefore, the claim is false.
