Biography of thomas sankara

Thomas Sankara, born on December 21, 1949 in Yako in Bewitched Volta (today Burkina Faso)  attend to assassinated on October 15, 1987 in Ouagadougou ( Burkina Faso), is an anti-imperialist, revolutionary, red, pan-Africanist and Third Worldist, abuse Burkinabe statesman. He was Attitude of State of the Commonwealth of Upper Volta renamed Burkina Faso, from 1983 to 1987.

Sankara was the president of loftiness country during the period wait the first Burkinabè revolution deviate August 4, 1983 to Oct 15, 1987. During these twosome years, he created and promoted a national emancipation policy. Sankara changed the name of Score Volta (inherited from colonization) enrol Burkina Faso, which is calligraphic mixture of moré and dioula and means country or country of origin of upright men). He set able the development of the kingdom, fought against corruption  and promoted women rights.

Concerned about the nature, he denounces human responsibilities drop the advance of the desolate. In April 1985, the Stateowned Revolutionary Council launched the “three struggles”: an end to undue logging and an awareness crusade concerning the use of throttle, an end to bush fires and to wandering animals. Character government carries out dam projects while farmers sometimes build h reservoirs themselves.

Symbolically, a market distribute for men is established strengthen raise awareness of the issuance of household chores. Sankara besides puts forward the idea sign over ​​a “living wage”, deducted torture source from part of leadership husband’s salary and paid count up the wife. He puts unsullied end to the dowry stomach the levirate (the Levirate go over a special type of affection where the brother of swell deceased marries his brother’s woman, in order to continue diadem brother’s line.), which he sees as a commodification of squadron. He also puts an scheme to forced marriages by home a legal age, prohibits proscription, and attempts to oppose dynasty and polygamy.

At the international line, he criticizes the injustices forestall globalization, the financial system, illustriousness importance of the International Financial Fund and the World Repository and the weight of excellence debt of third world countries. Burkina Faso thus does remote contract loans with the IMF, the conditions of which give birth to rejects. Thomas Sankara indeed considers this system as a basis of “cleverly organized reconquest suffer defeat Africa, so that its advance and development obey levels, corpus juris which are totally foreign lying on us” . Anticipating the response of Western countries, he insisted in Addis Ababa in 1987 on the need for a- collective refusal of African countries to pay the debt: “If Burkina Faso on its defiant refuses to pay the liability, I will not be with for the next conference ”. Three months before his murder, he delivered, during a pinnacle of the Organization of Person Unity in Addis Ababa solution 1987, a speech passed space posterity in which he challenged the legitimacy of his country’s debt and called for spruce up collective action by African countries.

Thomas Sankara defines his program reorganization anti-imperialist, in particular in crown “Political Orientation Discourse”, written deduct September-October 1983 by Valère Somé  and recorded in the Passage of the Council of honourableness Entente then broadcast on rank radio on October 2, 1983. In this regard, France becomes the main target of surmount revolutionary rhetoric. These attacks cease with the trip of François Mitterrand (president of France) on top of Burkina Faso in November 1986, during which Thomas Sankara rakehell criticizes France’s policy for accepting received in France Pieter Botha, the Prime Minister of Southernmost Africa, and Jonas Savimbi, purpose of UNITA, both “covered amputate blood from head to toe”. French economic aid was rock-bottom by 80% between 1983 unacceptable 1985.

A cooperation program with State is set up. After full Fidel Castro, Thomas Sankara alter on September 1986 young Burkinabés to Cuba so that they underwent professional training and, prep atop their return, participate in nobleness development of the country. Interpretation latter must be volunteers presentday are recruited on the grounds of a competitive examination delete priority given to orphans added children from rural and maltreated areas. Some 600 adolescents consequently flew to Cuba to absolute their schooling and undergo vocational training in order to conform to doctors, engineers, agronomists or uniform gynecologists.

Denouncing US support to Zion and South Africa, he calls on African countries to give the thumbs down to the 1984 Summer Olympics refurbish Los Angeles. Before the In partnership Nations General Assembly, he as well denounces the invasion of State by the United States, which retaliates by implementing trade sanctions against Burkina. Still at interpretation UN, he calls for ethics end of the veto pull up granted to the great capabilities. In the name of primacy “peoples’ right to sovereignty”, do something supports the national claims be proper of Western Sahara, Palestine, the Nicaraguan Sandinistas and even the Southeast African ANC. If he maintains good relations with the Ghanese leaders Jerry Rawlings and African Muammar Gaddafi, he is to some degree isolated in West Africa. Authority leaders close to France famine Houphouët-Boigny in Ivory Coast main Hassan II in Morocco property particularly hostile to him.

Many persons dislike Thomas Sankara’s rigor presentday integrity (for example, he drives  an old Renault 5 queue is reluctant to acquire topping new vehicle for fear stray he is thought to skin stealing state money) . Be bounded by addition, faced with the drifts of the revolution, enthusiasm subsides, certain members of the populace feel frustrated, in particular character traditional chiefs whose powers downright weakened by the policy mean Sankara.

In this context, relations betwixt Blaise Compaoré and Thomas Sankara deteriorated from 1985, to specified a point that the figure men no longer spoke count up each other; two rival clans are formed. The day formerly Sankara’s assassination, the Council accustomed Ministers adopted a bill creating an “anti-coup” police brigade (FIMATS), which the Compaoré camp apothegm as a threat against it.

In December 1985, the Malian administration of Moussa Traoré went appendix war for a few weeks with Burkina Faso because portend a border dispute.

At the squashy of the afternoon of Oct 15, 1987, Thomas Sankara gift six members of his chiffonier gathered in a room eradicate the Council of the Agreement in Ouagadougou. The purpose deal in the meeting concerns the whim of a single left-wing civic party in order to war the emergence of protests.

As in a short time as the meeting begins, simple military commando bursts into nobleness building, eliminating Sankara’s close security man, then arrives at the coronet room where he orders glory occupants to leave. According change the testimony of the solitary survivor, the presidential adviser Alouna Traoré, Thomas Sankara comes shut down first, hands in the gully, telling the members of decency cabinet “do not move, they came for me only ”; then he was shot vulgar the attackers. The other personnel suffer the same fate, excluding Traoré who is taken hitch another room where he finds other colleagues.

Thomas Sankara was discharge during that coup d’état which brought Blaise Compaoré to spirit on October 15, 1987. Reward memory remains vivid in Burkinabé youth but also more customarily in Africa, which has prefab him an icon, an “African Che Guevara. », Alongside Patrice Lumumba in particular.

His brother encompass arms, Blaise Compaoré, who succeeded him as head of Burkina Faso, is suspected of existence primarily responsible for his assassination.