内容摘要：Women attend a spinning class on a hotel helipad in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Women attend a spinning class on a hotel helipad in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

“There has been no real progress on the ground” in Burkina Faso, said Gbara Awanen, a professor of international relations and security studies at Nigeria’s Baze University, who specializes in West Africa. “A lot of it is just sleek propaganda.”Data from the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED, shows that while 2,894 people were killed by both government and armed groups during the year before the 2022 coup, the number has more than doubled to at least 7,200 in the last year.

Analysts say the attacks have worsened to the point that Ouagadougou is now increasingly threatened, with more than 60% of the country outside of government control. At least 2.1 million people have lost their homes as a result of the violence, and almost 6.5 million need humanitarian aid to survive, conservative estimates show.Babacar Ndiaye, a senior fellow at the Senegal-based Timbuktu Institute for Peace Studies, attributes the current frenzy surrounding Traore primarily to his popularity — and Russia-driven propagandaDespite Burkina Faso’s worsening security crisis, Traore still has “so much resonance and interest simply because of propaganda,” Ndiaye said. “In Africa, there is deep frustration with the traditional leadership, so there is polarized anger towards a scapegoat that is the west.”

West Africa, meanwhile, has a history of young men seizing power as exemplified by John Jerry Rawlings in Ghana, Samuel Doe in Liberia and Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso, all in the 1980s. That history, placed against the perceived failure of Western-style democracy in Africa, has helped to create conditions for idolizing the likes of Traore.Still, allegations of propaganda do not adequately explain the excitement that has built up around Africa’s youngest ruler, according to Chidi Odinkalu, an Africa analyst and professor at Tufts University.

“Traore articulates a revolutionary message that is appealing to a young population frustrated by the thievery of what passes for ‘democracy’ in their own countries,” said Odinkalu.

Follow AP’s Africa coverage at:" wallcovering collection was inspired by the accounts of early explorers and the creatures they encountered. The “Golden Tiger” roams among cubs and other jungle animals on a wood veneer background. “Mimic Moths,” now extinct, take on the coloring of their favorite plants. Other moths, moon orchids and lilies-of-dusk tumble across an embossed, suede-like wallcovering.

Partnering with textile giant Romo, Alice Temperley’s eponymousdrew inspiration from their archive of richly detailed gowns. They came up with a wallcovering collection full of leopard prints, swirling sea agate patterns, and golden Victorian keys and dressmaking scissors.

has a cheeky one called “Safari Gangsta,” featuring fierce and funny wild animals dressed in hip-hop gear; there’ll be some cool kids who’ll want it in their bedrooms, and probably some adults too.Katie Deedy has found a way to artfully mix her intellectual curiosity and love of history. Her Brooklyn-based