WHAT SANKARA SAID ABOUT COMPAORE

WHAT PRESIDENT SANKARA SAID ABOUT PRESIDENT COMPAORE

Blaise Compaoré is president of the Republic of Burkina Faso. He succeeded Thomas Sankara following a bloody coup in which the latter was killed in 2007. While Sankara was president, Compaoré was the de facto second-in-command. Both men had been childhood friends and were known very well by each other`s family.  One could even say they were best friends; so were their wives.  In fact, Compaoré was the one who led the contingent that freed Sankara from detention by the previous regime, thus ushering in the “revolution” which Sankara swore to guard with his life, if necessary.

When Sankara was killed in the coup, twelve of his aides were killed alongside him. Compaoré immediately took over as president. Two men helped Compaoré to become president. These were Major Jean-Baptiste Lingani and Captain Henri Zongo. In 1989, Lingani and Zongo unsuccessfully attempted to depose Compaoré but failed. As a result, Compaoré had them executed.

There are many who hold the view that Compaoré masterminded the killing of Sankara. Some sources accuse France of having given him the financial wherewithal to carry out their plot.    Interestingly, it is also reported that not long before the coup planners moved in on Sankara, a number of soldiers ran to him and warned him that his best friend and next-in-command had sent men who were on their way to kill him. Sankara`s reply to the military men was shocking. He reportedly told them that Blaise Compaoré knew so much about him that if he wanted to kill him, no one would be able to stop him.