Thirty-eight years after the assassination of Pan-Africanist leader Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, paid tribute to the father of the August 1983 Revolution in the Sahel country.

Traoré visited the mausoleum on October 15 where the country’s former president (1983-1987) was assassinated exactly 38 years ago, on October 15, 1987, and where his remains now lie. In his message to the population, the current Head of State saluted the memory of a man whose “commitment and struggle for a dignified, sovereign, and prosperous Burkina Faso are unmatched.”

“I renew my tribute to this worthy son of Africa,” Traoré said in a message posted on X.

“With courage and pride, we will keep the flame of Burkinabe Renaissance alight,” said the president before concluding the message with the famous Sankarist motto: “Homeland or death, we shall win.”

Tributes to Sankara

Every year on October 15, Burkina Faso and the entire world commemorate the tragic massacre that took the life of Sankara, a martyr in the struggle for African emancipation who inspires the current measures to break with the West implemented by the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

The legacy of the African “Che Guevara,” as he became known, was portrayed in the new documentary by Brasil de Fato, “Sahel: La Patrie ou La Mort”, released on September 16, the day that marked the second anniversary of the formation of the AES.

Thomas Sankara was assassinated in 1987 in a conspiracy led by his then colleague Blaise Compaoré, who became president of the country until 2014, with the support of the French government.

Traoré recalled today that the patriotism and endogenous development promoted by Sankara remain relevant today.

“His actions and his words are an inexhaustible source of inspiration and a compass that guides the Popular Progressive Revolution toward a new Burkina Faso,” Traoré concluded.

This article was translated from an article originally published in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato.

The post Ibrahim Traoré pays tribute to Thomas Sankara appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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