Issued on: 11/10/2021
Ouagadougou (AFP)
The trial of 14 men, including a former president, was set to begin in Burkina Faso on Monday over the assassination of the country's revered revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara 34 years ago.
The slaying of Sankara, an icon of pan-Africanism, has for years cast a dark shadow over the poor Sahel state, fuelling its reputation for turbulence and bloodshed.
Sankara and 12 others were riddled with bullets by a hit squad in October 1987 during a putsch that brought his friend and comrade-in-arms Blaise Compaore to power.
Compaore ruled the country for the next 27 years before being deposed by a popular uprising and fleeing to neighbouring Ivory Coast, which granted him citizenship.
He and his former right-hand man, General Gilbert Diendere, who once headed the elite Presidential Security Regiment, face charges of complicity in murder, harming state security and complicity in the concealment of corpses.
Compaore, who has always rejected suspicions that he orchestrated the killing, will be tried in absentia by the military court in the capital Ouagadougou.
His lawyers last week announced he would not be attending a "political trial" flawed by irregularities, and insisted he enjoyed immunity as a former head of state.
Diendere, 61, is already serving a 20-year sentence for masterminding a plot in 2015 against the transitional government that followed Compaore's ouster.
Another prominent figure among the accused is Hyacinthe Kafando, a former chief warrant officer in Compaore's presidential guard, who is accused of leading the hit squad. He is on the run.
A young army captain and Marxist-Leninist, Sankara came to power in a coup in 1983 aged just 33.
He tossed out the country's name of Upper Volta, a legacy of the French colonial era, and renamed it Burkina Faso, which means "the land of honest men".
He pushed ahead with a socialist agenda of nationalisations and banned female genital mutilation, polygamy and forced marriages.
Like Ghana's former leader Jerry Rawlings, he became an idol in left-wing circles in Africa, lauded for his radical policies and defiance of the big powers.
Burkina Faso has long been burdened by silence over the assassination -- during Compaore's long time in office, the subject was taboo -- and many are angry that the killers have gone unpunished.
"The trial will mark the end to all the lying -- we will get a form of truth. But the trial will not be able to restore our dream," Halouna Traore, a comrade of Sankara and survivor of the putsch, said in a TV interview.
© 2021 AFP
Burkina Faso: Justice for Thomas Sankara
In Burkina Faso, a historic trial is taking shape for the death of iconic leader Thomas Sankara in 1987. But the main defendant and former president, Blaise Compaore, will be absent.
Thomas Sankara's memory looms large over Burkina Faso
Justin Sogbedji looked up in awe at the 5-meter (16.5-foot) statue of Thomas Sankara. Erected last year in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, the impressive monument attracts thousands of visitors every month. Sogbedji can't seem to get enough pictures with Sankara's statue.
"Thomas Sankara is a fighter. Ever since my childhood, I liked what he did," said Sogbedji, who moved to Burkina Faso from neighboring Benin three years ago. Now he can visit the statue and memorial to his hero in peace.
"He fought so much for Burkina Faso," Sogbedji said. "It's amazing."
For days Sankara, who came to power in Burkina Faso — then called Upper Volta — after a coup on August 4, 1983, has been a hot topic in Ouagadougou again. On Monday, a historic trial will finally begin to shed light on how he and 12 other military officers were killed on October 15, 1987.
Jean-Hubert Bazie, a retired journalist, and the communications officer for the Thomas Sankara Memorial, is also eagerly awaiting the trial. "We hope the truth sees the light of day," he said.
Place of execution
The truth is tightly bound to the location of the statue, which, together with a tower, should become the centerpiece of a future park covering almost 10,000 square meters (107,000 square feet). Bazie walked along a path towards two houses. One served as the headquarters for the National Revolutionary Council (CNR), which catapulted Sankara to power.
Sankara was a "diamond," says Bazie, spokesperson for the Thomas Sankara Memorial
"Look at the one on the left. Thomas Sankara and 12 comrades were executed there," Bazie said.
A large portrait and a wreath of plastic flowers commemorate the scene of the execution. On that Thursday, Sankara — then 38 years old — met here with members of his Cabinet to discuss the founding of a political party. Suddenly, gunshots rang out outside. As the men tried to escaped the building, they were gunned down. Only one, Alouna Traore, survived.
The main defendant in the trial is Blaise Compaore, Sankara's former companion and eventual president of Burkina Faso. Compaore, now 70, remained president until his resignation on October 31, 2014.
"Down with Blaise" recalls the 2014 uprisings against former President Blaise Compaore
After leaving office, Compaore went into exile in the Ivory Coast, becoming an Ivorian citizen in 2016. Nobody expects him to attend the trial. His lawyers say he has not been summoned for questioning. As a former head of state, he also enjoys immunity. But Bazie believes Compoare has simply wanted to avoid accountability for Sankara's death for decades.
"Sankara's father always said he's waiting Compaore to pay him a visit and tell him exactly what happened that day," Bazie said. "He's long dead now. But Compaore never made that visit."
Benefiting young people
In the Ouagadougou suburb of Wayalghin, where the citizens rights movement Balai Citoyen is headquartered, the trial is eagerly anticipated.
"It would be better of course if Compaore were here to face the justice system of his country," Eric Ismael Kinda, spokesperson for Balair Citoyen, said of Compaore's absence.
"He fled and has no trust in the system he is largely responsible for," Kinda said.
"Thomas Sankara remains a hero for the youth," Eric Ismael Kinda says
That the trial is taking place at all is mostly thanks to Burkinabe civil society, said Canada-based political scientist Aziz Salmone Fall, who coordinates the international Justice for Thomas Sankara campaign.
"The younger generation that Sankara never knew overthrew Compaore's regime," he said.
Weeks of demonstrations in October 2014 toppled Compaore's rule, and forced him to step down. Under the transitional government of Michel Kafando, Sankara's body was exhumed and the government launched an investigation. Among other things, a military doctor certified that the body was "riddled with bullets." Previously, Sankara was said to have died of "natural causes."
French role
Fall does not want to participate in the trial in protest of Compaore's no-show. But he also believes the role of France, Burkina Faso's former colonial power, needs to be fully investigated. Only in 2017 did President Emmanuel Macron declassify all French documents regarding the death of Sankara.
"I don't think it was merely a locally conceived plot. It was international. The last revolution on the African continent ended with Sankara's death," said Fall.
Sankara is revered for his modesty by admirers. His vision for Burkina Faso included the country's producing its own goods and becoming self-reliant. Sankara was also a thorn in the side for many who did not want to see an independent African state succeed.
Blaise Compaore, left, will not attend the trial for the death of Thomas Sankara
In Ouagadougou, Sankara is still a hero for young people.
"He fought against the forces that undermine society, like corruption, injustice, unemployment, illiteracy, poverty. We know the youth are particularly hit by poverty," Kinda said.
No politician in Burkina Faso, or even Africa, has come so close to the heroic aura that Sankara has had domestically since his death.
Back at the memorial to Thomas Sankara, Justin Sogbedji thought about the leaders who have followed. "No," he said, "I haven't seen anyone like him yet."
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