The 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.
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The ceremony was held in the presence of Prime Minister of Burkina Faso Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla. Sankara came to power in August 1983 as an army captain, aged 33.
Sankara was idolised by supporters of pan-Africanism and egalitarianism, but his tenure was short-lived. He 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.
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He went on to rule for 27 years, during which Sankara’s death was a strict taboo. In 2014 he was ousted by public protests. 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.