BURKINA FASO
BURKINA FASO – Case Sankara and companions. The trial is quick! … Blaise Compaoré must be extradited and France must cooperate!
Press release – The deliberation of the confirmation of charges hearing, published on 13 April 2021 confirms the indictment of the main accused. The case is now referred to the Military Tribunal responsible for the trial. We ask that Blaise Compaoré be extradited to Burkina Faso and that France make available to the Burkinabe courts the archives relating to the murder of Thomas Sankara.
The way is therefore open to organize the trial. However, the date has not been set. According to our latest information, the Burkinabe military justice is still wondering whether it should start with the trial of the Sankara case or the appeal of the 2015 putsch trial.
We urge justice to begin with the Sankara case. For more than 34 years, the families of the victims of October 15, 1987 have been waiting for justice to be done, for the remains of their parents’ bodies to be returned to them in order to organize their burial, and to finally be able to mourn.
The announced opening of the trial does not make us forget that the investigation into the alleged international conspiracy remains open following the disjunction operated by the Burkinabe justice between it and the events that took place in Burkina Faso.
We now know that not everything has been done on the French side to transmit “the documents produced by French administrations during the Sankara regime and after its assassination, (…) covered by national secrecy”. as promised by President Emmanuel Macron in Ouagadougou in November 2017. In particular, we request that the archives of President François Mitterrand and his cabinet, as well as those of Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister and his cabinet, covering the period before and after the assassination of Thomas Sankara, covered by the defence secret, be transmitted to the Burkinabe courts.
We urge the democratic forces and the people of Côte d’Ivoire to put pressure on their government to extradite Blaise Compaoré, who has done so much harm to their country.
This trial is a historic event of international significance. We call on the authorities to film the trial for the posterity, history, memory and education of the young people of today and tomorrow.
We thank all those who by their commitment have allowed the trial to finally take place. It is the result of a long struggle of several decades. It will allow the perpetrators of the murder of Thomas Sankara and the other victims of 15 October 1987 to be tried. This is a great step towards truth and justice.
The Senegalese Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko made his first official visit to Burkina Faso on Friday, May 16, 2025. During this visit, he reaffirmed to Captain Ibrahim Traoré the willingness of Senegal to provide its support in the face of the terrorist threat in the Sahel.
On an official visit to Ouagadougou, Ousmane Sonko, Prime Minister of Senegal, was received in audience by the President of the Transition of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré. Accompanied by three members of his government—Yassine Fall, Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Integration; Birame Diop, Minister of the Armed Forces; and Khady Diène Gaye, Minister of Sport — The head of the Senegalese government engaged in more diplomatic exchanges at the summit.
This first visit to Burkina Faso takes place against a background of high security tensions in the region. At the end of his meeting with President Traoré, Ousmane Sonko wished to express “the solidarity of the Senegalese people towards the people of Burkina Faso in the face of this test imposed on them, which they did not choose”. In addition, he provided “absolute support” to the transitional authorities and affirmed Senegal’s readiness to consider “any possibility of collaboration and support” in the face of the terrorist threat. He also stressed the need for a united and structured response, because, he said: “None of our countries can escape this gangrene”.
Ousmane Sonko, in his statements, calls for a collective approach to security in West Africa. He also said: “It is illusory to believe that the security threat will stop at the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali or Niger. It is a struggle of all West Africa”.
Ousmane Sonko not only spoke to Ouagadougou, but also to Bamako and Niamey.
Apart from the diplomatic issues, the visit of the Senegalese Prime Minister also has a historical dimension. Indeed, on Saturday, May 17, 2025, he took part in the inauguration of the Thomas Sankara Mausoleum, an emblematic figure of Pan-Africanism and its 12 companions in Ouagadougou. For the Senegalese Prime Minister, Thomas Sanka who is one of his master thinkers “has been illuminating all the pan-Africanist and sovereignist struggles on the continent for a few decades”. He also planned to meet with the Senegalese community living in Burkina Faso.
BURKINA FASO
BURKINA FASO – Draft revision of the constitution: The ESC and the Ombudsman of Faso removed, French will no longer be the official language
The adoption of a bill revising the Constitution, this is the main information from the Council of Ministers. As implications included in this bill, the Minister of Justice, Rodrigue Bayala, has indicated that French will become a working language and national languages will become official languages.
Institutions such as the Ombudsman of Faso and the Economic and Social Council (ESC) will also be abolished. Their duties and functions will be entrusted to an institution called the “Conseil national des communautés”. According to the minister in charge of justice, this new institution will be composed of religious leaders, customary and grassroots communities.
The transformation of the National Intelligence Agency into the National Security Council, a body that will be constitutionalized and the abolition of the High Court of Justice are also reforms contained in the draft text.
The city of Djibo, located in the Sahel region, was the subject of a terrorist attack in the afternoon of Sunday, November 26, 2023. Numerous assailants arrived by motorcycle and car stormed the camp of the group of anti-terrorist forces and several strategic sites of the city. For more than two hours, they shot at the people, burned and looted everything they could. For the moment, no official communication on the outcome of this attack.
According to the news agency of Burkina it is «nearly 3,000 terrorists» who attacked the city of Djibo. Witnesses on the spot explain that the attackers came in large numbers and attacked the strategic points of the city, including the camp of the military detachment.
“The fighting was particularly violent at the military camp,” Burkina Faso’s news agency said. For several hours, the attackers occupied it just like the rest of the city. A security source reveals that “soldiers fell, all collective weapons, all ammunition and armoured vehicles carried away.”
A counter-offensive was carried out and «more than 400 terrorists» killed, says the Burkina news agency. A figure that cannot be independently verified. In addition, the agency does not mention possible losses and material damage, on the side of the Burkinabe forces.
For more than two years, the city of Djibo has been under the blockade of armed terrorist groups. The inhabitants are supplied by a WFP airlift or by the rare convoys escorted by the army of Burkina Faso. These convoys are regularly attacked by armed terrorist groups.
