Former president and father of the Burkinabe revolution, Thomas Sankara, who was killed in a coup on October 15, 1987, will be elevated to the rank of “hero of the nation,” the interim government in Burkina Faso decided on Wednesday. A national and international ceremony will be organized on October 15th.
Published on: April 10, 2023 – 10:34 p.m
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The interim government in Burkina Faso decided on Wednesday, October 4th, to elevate former president and father of the Burkinabe revolution, Thomas Sankara, who was killed in a coup on October 15th, 1987, to the rank of “Hero of the Nation”.
“The Council (of Ministers) adopted a decree recognizing the late Captain Isidore Thomas Noël Sankara with the status of Hero of the Nation,” said the report sent to AFP.
“Awarding Hero of the Nation status” to Thomas Sankara “aims to uphold the core values that founded the Republic,” the government said.
Thomas Sankara, a Pan-African icon, came to power in a coup in August 1983 and was killed on October 15, 1987 in a coup instigated by his number two, Blaise Compaoré. That day, the Burkinabe president was in a meeting at the headquarters of his National Council of the Revolution (CNR) when a commando of putschist soldiers arrived on the scene and shot him and his companions.
The “Hero of the Nation” status was created in June 2022 to honor people who have distinguished themselves particularly through “extraordinary bravery in defense of a national cause” or “extraordinary and honorable bravery for the nation.”
Also Read: Who Was Thomas Sankara?
A ceremony on October 15th
After the death of Thomas Sankara, Blaise Compaoré remained in power until a popular uprising in 2014 that led to his overthrow.
In April 2022, the Ouagadougou military court sentenced Ivory Coast resident Blaise Compaoré to life imprisonment in absentia after a six-month trial for his role in the murder of Thomas Sankara.
The bodies of Thomas Sankara and his twelve companions, buried for the first time in a cemetery on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, were exhumed on May 25, 2015 for legal proceedings before being buried in a memorial built on their exact site became murder.
According to the government, a “national and international memorial ceremony for the victims will be organized on October 15, 2023 to honor their memory.”
The interim president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, has regularly paid tribute to Thomas Sankara since he came to power in a coup on September 30, 2022.
With AFP
