Finally, Burkina Faso exhume Sankara’s remains to find killers

Authorities in Burkina Faso have begun exhuming the remains of former president, Thomas Sankara, in a bid to unravel those behind his 1987 assassination.

In the past, attempts by Sankara’s family and supporters to exhume his body and find those responsible for his death had been denied by former president, Blaise Compaore.

The exhumation, which is ongoing at the Daghnoen cemetery, just outside Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso was accented by the interim government led by Michel Kafando.

According to Reuters, Sankara’s relatives have for years pressed for the buried body to be tested on the suspicion that it may not even be that of the former president, who died in a coup that brought his former ally, Compaore, to power.

Compaore faced many queries during his 27-year-rule of the West African nation about Sankara’s death, with no substantial judicial investigation.

He was eventually ejected from office in October 2014, following a protested amendment of the country’s constitution in favour of his third term bid.

Though Sankara took power via a coup in 1983, he was able to carve a place for himself in African history as a visionary leader with anti-imperialist ideas.

Many African public commentators believe he was a leader who was driven by simplicity and motivated by genuine love for country and desire to transform the society.

He nationalised land and mineral wealth, moved to improve health and education in the impoverished country, pressed for debt reduction, promoted women into leadership and changed the country’s name from Upper Volta.

Sankara’s widow, Miriam, who spoke to BBC French service, said she wanted the ex-leader’s body exhumed for judicial reasons.

“It should be in the context of a judicial process that we have always demanded, in the context of finding out the truth and the helping in the search for President Sankara’s murderers,” she said.

DNA tests which may take weeks would be carried out on the bodies to confirm the identity of the corpse exhumed.

Africa’s Che Guevara, as he was fondly dubbed, became president in 1983 after an internal power tussle, leading the country for four years until his death at the age of 37.