Exactly 38 years ago, Burkina Faso lost its revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara. The country’s former president was killed during a coup d’état that also took the lives of 12 of his comrades on October 15, 1987.
The massacre took place at the headquarters of the National Revolutionary Council and was led by his then ally, Blaise Compaoré, with direct support from foreign forces, mainly from France.
The coup brought an end to four years of unprecedented revolution on the African continent. In a short time, Sankara transformed one of the poorest countries in the world into a symbol of sovereignty and dignity.
For Valentin Sankara, the younger brother of the Burkinabe leader, the former president governed the country with one non-negotiable principle: to serve the people of the country. “He didn’t like injustice, even at home, with us, his brothers and sisters. I can say that it was this behavior that led him to take power,” Valentin points out.
The “African Che Guevara,” as he is called, led the revolution of August 4, 1983, in Burkina Faso. The following year, Sankara changed the country’s name from the Republic of Upper Volta, a legacy of French colonial power, to the People’s Democratic Republic of Burkina Faso, which means “Land of Upright Men.”
The visionary leader, known for his modest lifestyle, promoted the manufacture and consumption of local products in Burkina Faso. He himself set an example by wearing only cotton manufactured in Burkina Faso.
Leading a movement to break away from neo-colonial rule, Sankara carried out radical reforms in the health, education, and agriculture sectors, charting a path to food self-sufficiency that was unprecedented in the country. Musician Sawadogo Pasmamde, known as Oceán, explains.
“Sankara’s revolution has already triggered something that even Ibrahim Traoré [the current president] is now reestablishing with his revolution. In other words, to liberate the people, they must have the right to their land. A people without land is a slave people,” explains the artist.
“He understood that for the people to be free and dignified, they needed to have food to eat. That is why his fundamental policy was agrarian reform. The land belongs to the state, which now returns it to the population so that they can cultivate it, with support in terms of technical assistance and agricultural resources,” he adds.
The assassination
In a historic speech delivered in July 1987 at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the first president of Burkina Faso denounced debt and the Bretton Woods institutions, an international agreement made after World War II that created the rules of the global economy. According to Sankara, both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were legacies of colonialism. Months later, he would be killed.
The former president was shot in cold blood by soldiers allied with Compaoré on October 15, 1987. His former friend took power shortly thereafter, ruling Burkina Faso for 27 years under heavy repression and alignment with the West.
“Sankara’s assassination on October 15, 1987, marked the end of the revolution. However, the revolution led by Sankara had a vision of happiness, development, and prosperity for Burkina Faso, for Africa, and for the world. He always said that those who love other peoples also love their own people. Sankara loved other peoples, and they also loved the people of Burkina,” says Luc Damiba, special advisor to the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso and coordinator of the Thomas Sankara Memorial Committee.
For almost three decades, talking about Thomas Sankara became taboo in Burkina Faso. His portraits, books, and speeches were banned. Amid the silence imposed by the Compaoré regime, voices emerged that were willing to preserve his memory, such as that of Simone Prosper, who is now a guide and salesman at the Thomas Sankara Memorial.
“After assassinating President Thomas Sankara, their goal was to eliminate all traces of the revolution, meaning that newspapers that mentioned President Sankara and photos of President Sankara were collected and burned. I was very young at the time and thought: as long as I live, the image of the captain will travel around the world,” Prosper points out.
Investigation and conviction of Compaoré
After the popular uprising of 2014 and the end of Compaoré’s regime, the country was able to begin investigations and trials into the death of the African leader.
Against all evidence, Sankara’s death was classified as a natural death until April 2008. Several requests for access to French archives to try to determine whether the former colonial power was involved in Sankara’s death were ignored by the French government.
Investigations in Burkina Faso established the direct responsibility of Compaoré, then Minister of Justice, after confirming the presence of soldiers from his close guard among the commanders of the massacre. According to the investigation, the assassins left from Compaoré’s residence, some borrowing one of his vehicles. The Burkinabe judiciary also revealed the presence of French agents in Ouagadougou on October 16, 1987, the day after the coup d’état. During the trial, more than 110 witnesses were heard.
In 2022, the dictator was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Military Court of Burkina Faso and “asked for forgiveness” from Sankara’s family. The court also sentenced his personal guard commander, Hyacinthe Kafando, and General Gilbert Diendéré, one of the leaders of the Armed Forces at the time of the 1987 coup, to the same sentence.
The three were found guilty of “complicity in murder,” “concealment of a corpse,” and “violation of state security,” losing all their military decorations.
Compaoré now lives in exile in Ivory Coast, whose president, Allassane Outtara, is one of France’s main allies in West Africa.
Read more: A new military strategy of French neo-colonialism in Africa: reorganizing under the cover retreat
Inspiration, not revenge
Musician Oceán, who grew up inspired by Sankara, recalls the impact that the assassination had on the entire country.
“Personally, I was a pioneer of Thomas Sankara’s revolution. From elementary school, we were chosen and began to be taught the ideology, and according to our grade level at the time, they already told us what capitalism was in simple terms, teaching us that capitalism is the exploitation of man by man, and telling us that it is a crime against humanity, preparing us to continue the revolution when he grew old. Unfortunately, he was unable to finish his work, and we were left like orphans. But each of us maintained our revolutionary values in our respective fields of activity,” recalls Oceán.
“We grew up with the desire not to avenge Sankara, because we cannot respond to violence with violence, but to bring Burkina back on the right path, because we were firmly convinced that this was the only way forward for our people,” he adds.
Among young people up to 35 years old, who make up 75% of the country’s population, Sankara’s thinking lives on, particularly in the measures taken by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the current head of state and central figure in the new patriotic revolution currently underway in the Sahel.
Sankara and the current struggles in the Sahel
The national coordinator of Burkinabe youth, Lianhoué Imhotep Bayala, reaffirms young people’s support for the measures implemented by the Alliance of Sahel States to break with France.
“It must be said that African youth are at a crossroads and at a decisive moment where they no longer want to be told what to do, as Thomas Sankara said in 1984 at the UN international conference in New York, saying no to any form of imposition. We are decolonized. And because we know that colonization was a massacre, a crime against humanity, this allows us to have our own mindset in relation to Western French discourse,” explains Imhotep Bayala.
“Lumumba was killed by Belgium. Kwame Nkrumah was killed by England and the American CIA. Sékou Touré was killed by the French DGES. Amílcar Cabral was killed by the Portuguese. Thomas Sankara was killed by France. We don’t want to lose any more of our heroes,” he adds.
With Traore, the country has its first memorial to honor Sankara. The space, which also houses the revolutionary leader’s mausoleum, was inaugurated in May this year on the same site where the former president and his 12 colleagues were assassinated. Valentin Sankara celebrated in an interview published by Brasil de Fato: “The captain thought of all those who remained on October 15 to accomplish this. It is truly a joy for the families,” said Valentin.
Like Sankara’s brother, Luc Damiba, special advisor to the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, sees the current government as a continuation of the project that was interrupted in 1987. He highlights two episodes that took place precisely at the location where he is giving the interview, the Thomas Sankara Memorial.
He took power on the 14th, and on October 15, 2022, he came here, took up the torch of the revolution, and said he would continue the revolution that Sankara had started. So, it is the continuation of the revolution that is present today. Secondly, he agreed to rename Thomas Sankara and erect this mausoleum project in Thomas Sankara’s name. He rehabilitated Thomas Sankara’s memory. So every day, he quotes his words, quotes his memory, quotes his references, the work he did, and says he will do better.”
For storyteller and early childhood educator Mahi, Princess Kirikara, Traoré is carrying out an indisputable priority during Sankara’s four years in power: the certainty that revolution cannot triumph without the emancipation of women.
“Sankara foresaw the emancipation of women, and with Ibrahim Traoré, this is totally confirmed, because we see many women today who are not afraid to assert themselves in any profession. They assert themselves in all professions. You find women police officers, you find women who are at the head of various companies. And there are many women in government, which is very good. It is a message for young people, for us, and for children,” concludes Mahi.
This article was translated from an article originally published in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato.
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