BURKINA FASO
BURKINA FASO – the trial of the murderers of Thomas Sankara and his companions opens on October 11 in Ouagadougou
PRESS RELEASE
After years of fighting and waiting, the trial of the murderers of Thomas Sankara and his companions opens on October 11 in Ouagadougou. It is a great satisfaction for the international network «Justice for Thomas Sankara, justice for Africa».
Blaise Compaoré’s lawyers have decided to disrupt the trial. They have just announced that they will boycott the trial. Mr. Pierre Olivier Sur, also a lawyer of François Compaoré, does not hesitate to advance shameless lies.
Their strategy is only to discredit the Burkinabè justice system. Mr. Pierre Olivier Sur, one of the lawyers tries to influence public opinion by unscrupulously using insult and contempt for the people of Burkina Faso and its institutions.
For our part, we salute the work and courage of Judge François Yaméogo, rigorous as well as tenacious, who led the investigation and launched in particular a Letter of Request to France and called for the opening of defence secrecy.
We remind President Emmanuel Macron of his promise made in Ouagadougou in 2017 to declassify and effectively deliver all documents related to the Sankara case to the Burkinabe justice.
This trial may be cut off from the international part of the case, since, after the disjunction, only the investigation on the national part of the case is closed. We therefore urge the lawyers of the civilian victims to ensure that the Tribunal nevertheless evokes this part of the case, in view of the new elements of the investigation, in particular the arrival of French on October 16, 1987 to clean the wiretaps.
It is crucial to know who these people are and who sent them. To do this, to relaunch the Rogatory Commission towards France or to launch a new one could make it possible to clarify these grey areas. These wiretaps could have been used, it seems, to prove the participation of Blaise Compaoré and Jean Pierre Palm in the plot to assassinate Thomas Sankara and his companions.
We urge the new judge in charge of the prosecution of the international component to continue the investigation until the end and in particular to continue to ask France to provide documents classified as defence secrets, and countries suspected of being involved in the investigation.
The mobilization must continue in particular towards these countries, in particular, France, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Libya and the United States.
Done at Ouagadougou, Paris, Niamey, Dakar, Bamako, New York, Toronto, Las Palmas, Turin, Albany, Sabadell (Catalonia), Bobo Dioulasso, Montpellier, Banfora, Toulouse, Ajaccio
The International Justice Network for Sankara Justice for Africa
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.
