A court in Bukina Faso on Tuesday charged former leader of the west African county, Blaise Compaore with the assignation of his predecessor Thomas Sankara. Reuters reported.
Sankara, a revolutionary inspired by the likes of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Che Guevara was assassinated in 1987, a killing that is until today widely remembered in Africa.
A coup d’état organised by Blaise Compaoré made Sankara President on 4 August 1983 at the age of 33.
Ironically is is Blaise Compaoré who again led to the next coup in which Sankara was assassinated. Compaore went on to lead Bukina Faso for 27 years until his ouster in a 2014 uprising. He fled to Ivory Coast.
Bukina Faso issued an arrest warrant for Compaore but the Ivory Coast government has not been helpful.
Compaore’s former right-hand man, General Gilbert Diendere, was also charged with several crimes related to Sankara’s killing, including complicity in the assassination, Reuters reported.
As President, Sankara promoted the “Democratic and Popular Revolution”. The ideology of the Revolution was defined by Sankara as anti-imperialist in a speech on 2 October 1983.
His policy was oriented towards fighting corruption, promoting reforestation, averting famine and making education and health real priorities.
Thomas Sankara is also known as the one who renamed the Country “ Bukina Faso’ from the colonial name ‘Upper Volta’ to mean the country of an “upright man’.