Emphasizes denounces the “arbitrariness” of the process and says that his burial in the Council of the Entente would mean “a second death”
17 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The family of the revolutionary leader and icon of pan-Africanism Thomas Sankara, assassinated in 1987 after a coup, has demanded a “presidential grace” from the leader of the military junta, Ibrahim Traoré, so that his remains are not buried in the Thomas Sankara Memorial .
“The solemn, sacred and urgent nature of the moment recommends that we address the transitional president, the Burkinabe people and international opinion to ask for a presidential grace”, said the family, stressing that they seek to “bury Sankara with dignity”. a Marxist revolutionary who led the country between 1983 and 1987.
Thus, he has asked “to allow today to be possible what could not happen 35 years ago” and has stressed that the family’s desire is that the remains be taken back to Dangoen, where they were exhumed, or “failing that, to the Friendship Garden, at the end of Thomas Sankara Avenue, or Yennenga Garden”.
Sankara’s family has transferred to Traoré that it is “their last resort before arbitrariness” and has indicated that the burial of Sankara’s remains in the Memorial, formerly known as the Council of the Entente, represents “the second death of a husband, father and brother.”
“We want to bury Thomas to finally grieve and may his soul rest in peace. Our family is still going through a hard ordeal, seeing Thomas buried against our will in the place where he was killed, that is, in the Council of the Entente”, he stressed.
In this sense, the family recalled that Sankara “did not die by accident, but in a well-orchestrated plot.” “Many other murders were perpetrated there, not to mention the number of people who suffered atrocities there,” he said in his statement, according to the Burkinabe news portal Burkina24.
“We would like the crime scene to remain intact for history and to be preserved for the memory of current and future generations,” he argued, before reiterating that the reburial order in this place goes “against the wishes of the family.” .
The family has stressed that their proposals for places for the burial of Sankara’s remains have been “rejected by the people in charge of the reburial process”, before showing their “surprise” at the fact that “the Council of the Entente , a place ruled out from the beginning, has been confirmed by the latter as a resting place for the remains of Sankara”.
Sankara was assassinated in 1987 along with twelve officers after being captured after a coup. His corpse was dismembered and buried in an anonymous grave. Former President Blaise Compaoré, who succeeded Sankara after the coup, was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2022.
Compaoré, who fled the country in 2014 amid massive protests against his intention to amend the Constitution to run for re-election, had returned to the country shortly before and apologized to his predecessor’s family in the interest of a “spirit of reconciliation.” .
Although France has denied any involvement in the coup, many Burkinabe still believe that the French government, at the very least, benefited greatly from the assassination of the pan-African leader. His figure continues to be enormously respected in the country and on the continent for his fight against colonialism and his pan-Africanism.
