“France Tested Its Atomic Bomb on Black Soldiers” — Captain Ibrahim Traoré Exposes a Dark Chapter of Colonial History

In a bold and chilling revelation, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the transitional President of Burkina Faso, has accused France of testing atomic weapons on Black African soldiers during its colonial reign—a claim that reignites fierce debates about unpunished colonial crimes and systemic exploitation.

According to Traoré, African soldiers—loyal to the French colonial army—were deliberately exposed to nuclear radiation during atomic tests in the Algerian Sahara in the 1960s. These soldiers, mostly from West African nations like Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Senegal, were allegedly used as “human test subjects” to study the effects of nuclear explosions on the human body.

France conducted 17 nuclear tests in Algeria between 1960 and 1966, starting with the Gerboise Bleue test—their first successful atomic bomb detonation. Reports from independent researchers and declassified French documents have long hinted at the presence of Black soldiers near ground zero—without adequate protection or warning.

Many of these soldiers suffered mysterious illnesses, infertility, and early deaths, yet their stories were erased from official records. Compensation was minimal or non-existent. Their families remain in the dark, generations later.

Captain Traoré's statement is not just a denunciation—it’s a call to confront uncomfortable truths. He urges African nations to stop idolizing their oppressors and start documenting and demanding justice for the invisible wounds left by colonial experiments.

This is no longer about past grievances—it’s about present courage and future justice.