It was Traoré who stole the show at the inauguration of Ghana's President John Mahama in January, when he arrived wearing battle fatigues with a pistol in his holster. "There were already 21 heads of state there, but when Traoré walked in, the place lit up. Even my president's bodyguards were running after him," Prof Aning said. Traoré offered a sharply contrasting image to some of the continent's other leaders, who struggled to walk but clung to power by rigging elections, he said. "Traoré is stylish and confident, with a very open face and a small smile. He is also a powerful orator, and presents himself as a man of the people." In a sign that his Russian-allied junta has made some progress on the economic front, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have given a generally upbeat assessment. In a statement in early April, the IMF said that despite a "challenging humanitarian and security" environment, the economy was expected to remain "robust" in 2025, and the regime had made "commendable progress" in raising domestic revenue, containing the public wage bill, and increasing spending on education, health and social protection. As for the World Bank, it said that inflation had surged from 0.7% in 2023 to 4.2% in 2024, but the extreme poverty rate, which refers to people living on less than $2.15 [£1.61] a day, had fallen by almost two percentage points to 24.9% because of "robust growth" in the agriculture and services sectors. Despite these reports from US-based financial institutions, relations with both France and America have been frosty. A recent example being the claim by the head of the US Africa Command, Gen Michael Langley, that Traoré was using Burkina Faso's gold reserves for his junta's protection rather than the nation's benefit. This appeared to be a reference to the long-standing view of the US, and some of its African allies, that Russian forces were propping up Traoré in exchange for a stake in Burkina Faso's gold industry - undermining the military ruler's image as a leader who expelled French troops in 2023 to reclaim the country's sovereignty. Gen Langley's comments, made in early April during a US Senate committee hearing, triggered an uproar among the captain's supporters, who felt their hero was being smeared. This was further inflamed when shortly afterwards, the Burkinabé junta said it had foiled a coup plot, alleging the plotters were based in neighbouring Ivory Coast - where Gen Langley then made a visit.