Burkina Faso Buries Thomas Sankara’s Exhumed Body

The exhumed body of Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara was buried Thursday alongside 12 of his comrades at the spot where they were assassinated in a coup three decades ago.

The ceremony was held in the presence of the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Apollinaire Tambèla.

Family members dressed in white filed past Sankara’s coffin to pay their final respects. They were joined by former members of his military personnel, citizens, and other victims’ relatives.

“We thank the authorities who took part in writing an important page of our history,” said Sankara’s uncle Mousbila.

Sankara came to power in August 1983 as an army captain, aged 33.

Nicknamed Africa’s Che Guevara, he was a fiery Marxist-Leninist who blasted the West for neo-colonialism and hypocrisy.

He changed the country’s name from the colonial-era Upper Volta to Burkina Faso “the land of honest men” and pushed through a range of reforms, including promoting vaccination and banning female genital mutilation.

Sankara and a dozen other leaders were gunned down by a hit squad at a meeting of the ruling National Revolutionary Council in the capital Ouagadougou.

The killings took place on the same day that Sankara’s comrade-in-arms, Blaise Compaore, seized power.

Compaore, ruled for almost three decades, before being toppled in 2014.

After Compaore’s downfall, the 13 bodies were exhumed from a cemetery on the outskirts of the city for an investigation.

It led to a lengthy trial that culminated in April 2022 with life terms in absentia for Compaore and the suspected hit squad leader, and a similar term for a detained general who had been army commander at the time.

In light of this trial, the 13 should be buried “honourably,” the government said previously.

AFRICANEWS/Christopher Ojilere