BURKINA FASO
BURKINA FASO – former President Compaoré will be tried for the murder of Thomas Sankara
Former President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaoré, in exile in Côte d’Ivoire, will be tried for the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, a pan-African icon, during the 1987 coup d’état that brought him to power, lawyers told AFP on Tuesday.
The case was referred back to the military court in Ouagadougou on Tuesday, after the confirmation of charges against the main defendants, including Blaise Compaoré, 34 years after the death of the «father of the Burkinabe Revolution», according to defence lawyers and civil parties.
«This (Tuesday morning) we attended the deliberation of the chamber of control of the investigation, which sent the case to trial», declared to AFP Guy Hervé Kam, a lawyer of the civil party. «These are essentially Blaise Compaoré and 13 others, accused of attacks on the state security», «complicity in assassinations» and «complicity in the concealment of corpses». The hour of justice has finally come, a trial can begin. It is therefore up to the military prosecutor to schedule a hearing date,’ he said.
Among the accused were General Gilbert Diendéré, one of the main chiefs of the army during the 1987 coup, who later became Blaise Compaoré’s special chief of staff, as well as soldiers of the former presidential guard. General Diendéré is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Burkina Faso for an attempted coup in 2015. More people were initially implicated, but «many accused have died», Kam said. “The file is referred” to the court, the date of the trial “is not yet decided” but it could take place “very soon”, since the warrants to bring in accused persons who are not yet detained have been ordered this morning,” said Mathieu Somé, counsel for General Gilbert Diendéré.
President Sankara, who came to power by a coup d’état in 1983, was killed by a commando on October 15, 1987, at the age of 37, during the coup that brought to power his then comrade-in-arms Blaise Compaoré. The death of Sankara, who became a Pan-African figure and nicknamed «Che Africain», was a taboo subject during the 27 years of power of Blaise Compaoré, himself overthrown by a popular uprising in 2014.
The case was revived, after the fall of Blaise Compaoré, by the democratic transition regime. An arrest warrant was issued against him by the Burkinabe justice in March 2016. But he lives in Côte d’Ivoire, where he fled after his fall. Having obtained Ivorian nationality, he cannot be extradited and should therefore be tried in absentia. In February 2020, a first reconstruction of Sankara’s murder took place at the scene of the crime, at the headquarters of the National Council of the Revolution (CNR) in Ouagadougou.
Source: Le Figaro
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.
