Thomas Isidore Noël Sankaraborn in Yako in 1949 and killed in Ouagadougou in 1987, was a military and politician of Burkina Fasopresident from 1983 to his death. After embarking on a military career, he came to power with a coup d’état: during the years of the presidency he was promoted important social reforms and, in foreign policy, he was a supporter of a anti-colonialist approach. The name of the state also changed from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso. He was assassinated by his former partner and future president Blaise Compaore in 1987. Despite the attempt to damnatio memoriae promoted by Compaoré, Sankara is still very popular at home and abroad.
Birth and youth of Thomas Sankara
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was born in Yakoa small town at the time French colony of Upper Voltaon 21 December 1949. In 1960, when he was 11 years old, Upper Volta gained independence. The country, however, found itself in a very difficult condition: it was one of the states poorest in the world and he had to face a constant political instabilityheated inter-ethnic conflicts and frequent coups d’état.
Sankara belonged to a Catholic family but, after attending school, he rejected his parents’ proposal that they would have wanted him to become a priest, and attempted to enroll in medical school. The purpose failed, he chose a military career and in 1967, when he was 18, he joined the army. Between 1971 and 1972 he followed a training course in Madagascar. Upon returning home, he participated in one war with Mali for the control of a portion of territory on the border between the two states. From a young age he matured anti-imperialist and Marxist political beliefsbelieving that colonialism, in its various forms, was the main one cause of Africa’s evils, and developing a strong focus on the conditions of the poorest sections of the population
From Upper Volta to Burkina Faso: what Thomas Sankara did
As the years passed, Sankara rose through the ranks and in 1976 he was appointed commander of a military training center. However, he did not abandon his ideas and a few years later he formed the “Regroupement des Officiers Communistes“ (Group of Communist Officers), which he meant counter the presidency of Saye Zerbowho came to power in 1980 in a coup. Among the other founders of the Regrouping was the future president Blaise Compaore.
Sankara was a popular figure and Zerbo tried to co-opt him into his entourage, appointing him in September 1981 minister of information. The young soldier accepted, but soon found himself at odds with the government’s policies, which in his opinion paid little attention to the needs of the citizens. Furthermore, he did not like the lavish lifestyle of his colleagues, preferring simplicity. For example, he traveled by bicycle and not in luxury cars like other ministers. For these reasons, in April 1982 he resigned. In November, a new coup d’état shook Upper Volta: he ascended to the presidency Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogowhich he chose as his own prime minister Sankara himself. The young officer, however, also came into conflict with Ouédraogo, who was not willing to promote extensive social reforms, and was therefore forced to resign and jailed. The arrest pushed Compaoré to organize a new coup, carried out in August 1983, following which Sankarareleased from prison, assumed the position of president of Upper Volta.
From Upper Volta to Burkina Faso: Sankara’s presidency
Thomas Sankara was appointed president on August 4, 1983. Exactly one year later, on 4 August 1984, the name of the State changed, which became Burkina Faso, i.e. Land of upright men. He also changed the flag and the anthem, which he wrote personally.
Sankara’s presidency was characterized by reforms and for the anti-imperialist approachinspired by figures such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Sankara expounded his program in Politically oriented speechheld in October 1983 in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital, and named its system of power Democratic and popular revolution.
During the years of his presidency he tried to reduce public spendingcutting the privileges of the ruling class, and to lower the prices of the main consumer goods, such as meat, to allow all the inhabitants of the country to have access to them. He was also one of the first African political leaders to realize the dangers of AIDS and invested large resources in the healthcare sector, allowing millions of citizens to be vaccinated against infectious diseases. He also put in place a vast public building programthanks to which schools, hospitals, sports fields and other facilities were built. He also conducted a short war against Mali between 25 and 30 December 1985, known as the Christmas warfor the control of a portion of territory.
In foreign policy, he took a decisive stand against all forms of neo-colonialism and took a stand against foreign debt: in a famous speech given in 1987 in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to the Organization of African Unity, he stated that debts contracts from Burkina Faso and other countries in the southern hemisphere with the industrialized world were due to colonialism and should therefore not be paid.
Such clear political positions meant that Sankara, together with many supporters, also had many enemiesboth within Burkina Faso and abroad. In particular, the president he alienated the sympathies of Franceled by President François Mitterrand, who continued to exert influence over his former colonies. He also attracted criticism for it poor respect for human rights for the authoritarian management of power, which involved the arrest and detention of many opponents. The majority of the Burkinabé population, however, appreciated his work.
The death by assassination of the former president of Burkina Faso and its myth
Sankara was killed on 15 October 1987 by his former friend and partner Blaise Compaoré. There are conflicting versions regarding the dynamics of the murder. The most widespread holds that, during a heated discussion, Compaoré pulled out his gun and shot two shots at Sankara. Compaoré, however, denied this version, claiming that he shot the president by mistake or, on other occasions, that he was not responsible for the murder. Another version actually has it that Sankara was killed by militiamen loyal to Compaoré while he was in the car. What is certain is that, after the president’s death, Compaoré rose to power and he remained there for almost thirty years, until 2014, when protests from the population forced him to resign and take refuge abroad. During the years of his presidency, Compaoré made all possible efforts to make Sankara forgetbut it failed to erase its popularity. Sankara is in fact an appreciated figure both in Burkina Faso and abroad and is considered a symbol of the fight for the freedom of peoples and African independence.
Recent events demonstrate how the former president is still popular in Burkina Faso: in 2021 a court convicted Compaoré in absentia for the murder of his predecessor and the current president, Ibrahim Traoré, explicitly states that he is inspired by Sankara’s policies.
