By Vijay Prashad
May 1, 2026
Read the entire April 30, 2026, article at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
On October 15, 1987, Thomas Sankara, the leader of Burkina Faso, was assassinated alongside twelve of his senior officials. At the time, which I remember well, there was great confusion as to who had carried out this unforgivable act. The assassins, too afraid to face Sankara, shot him from behind, hitting him multiple times before targeting those who were at the meeting with him. Shortly thereafter, one of Sankara’s associates, Blaise Compaoré, defended the coup by claiming that Sankara had endangered relations with France and Côte d’Ivoire, a close French ally.
Thomas Sankara
Thirty-five years later, after a popular rebellion ousted Compaoré, he was found guilty of complicity in the murder, although there was no serious investigation of the role of foreign intelligence agencies (such as France’s). Yet one question still hangs over the event: why was Sankara really killed?
Thomas Sankara (1949–1987) was appointed as prime minister of what was then known as the Republic of Upper Volta in January 1983 under President Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, whose government had come to power after the overthrow of Saye Zerbo in November 1982.
After Zerbo’s attempt to crush the trade unions, young military officers associated with the Communist Officers’ Group (Regroupement des officiers communistes, ROC), of which Sankara was a part, had helped bring Ouédraogo to power. Ouédraogo then chose Sankara as his prime minister. Both men cultivated an austere public image, with the young prime minister even bicycling to work.
Uncomfortable with the authoritative presence of the ROC, whom the French wanted removed, Ouédraogo had Sankara put under house arrest and tried to dismiss the other members of the ROC. In response, a young Compaoré led the August 4, 1983, coup that freed Sankara and brought him to power. Sankara and Compaoré took charge of the Republic of Upper Volta, which Sankara quickly renamed Burkina Faso (the Land of Upright People).
A brief glance at Sankara’s agenda for governance shows how much could have been gained by the Burkinabé people had he not been overthrown and killed in 1987. The most important aspect of the Burkinabé Revolution was the need to mobilise the people into total activity to build their country through the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (Comités de Défense de la Révolution, CDRs), a concept adopted from the Cuban experience.
It was through the CDRs that Sankara’s government learned what the people needed, developed projects to address these needs and then implemented them. The main issues on the table were, of course, the same as they were for all peoples of the Global South: education, health, food sovereignty, electricity, shelter, clean water and sanitation infrastructure, decent livelihoods, cultural opportunities and transportation (what are listed in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals). …
