1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état

Coup that brought Blaise Compaoré to power 1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état File:Location Burkina Faso AU Africa.svg 15 October 1987 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 12 21 26 N 1 32 7 W region:BF inline,title Burkina Faso yes 350px Green pog.svg 10 Nexus of coup in Ouagadougou (marked green), Burkina Faso Coup attempt succeeds. Thomas Sankara is overthrown and murdered. Blaise Compaoré is installed as the new President. Burkina Faso Government of Burkina Faso Socialist red flag.svg CDRs Burkina Faso Burkina Faso Armed Forcesborder|22px NPFLSupported by:France France Jaffre Bruno 2018 A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara Pluto Press 106Mali Mali9 October 2017 Qui a fait tuer Sankara ? Ouagadougou, l'ombre d'une main étrangère (3/6) Who had Sankara killed? Ouagadougou, the shadow of a foreign hand (3/6) http://webdoc.rfi.fr/burkina-faso-qui-a-fait-tuer-sankara/chap-03/ 26 August 2019 RFI frAmerica United States Jaffre Bruno 2018 A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara Pluto Press 103–105 Burkina Faso Thomas SankaraBurkina Faso Mariam Sankara Burkina Faso Blaise CompaoréBurkina Faso Jean-Baptiste Boukary LinganiBurkina Faso Henri Zongoborder|22px Charles Taylor Socialist red flag.svg / Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara / Burkina Faso Mariam Sankara and their children left Burkina Faso * Thomas Sankara is overthrown and murdered. Blaise Compaoré is installed as the new President. The 1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état was a violent military coup in Burkina Faso, which took place on 15 October 1987. The coup was organized by Captain Blaise Compaoré against incumbent far-left President Captain Thomas Sankara, his former friend,https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/26/world/a-friendship-dies-in-a-bloody-coup.html A FRIENDSHIP DIES IN A BLOODY COUP 26 October 1987 The New York Times 22 December 2018 bandmate, and associate during the 1983 upheaval. Compaoré has never acknowledged that a coup had taken place and claims to be a Sankara loyalist.https://www.dw.com/en/burkina-faso-tries-alleged-killers-of-iconic-leader-sankara/av-59474289 https://web.archive.org/web/20211011205334/https://www.dw.com/en/burkina-faso-tries-alleged-killers-of-iconic-leader-sankara/av-59474289 2021-10-11 Burkina Faso tries alleged killers of iconic leader Sankara Deutsche Welle 2021-10-11 2021-10-13 Events Sankara was killed by an armed group with twelve other officials in a gun battle at the presidential palace.https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/16/world/burkino-faso-leader-ousted-in-coup-led-by-chief-adviser.html Burkino Faso Leader Ousted In Coup Led by Chief Adviser 16 October 1987 The New York Times 22 December 2018https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/17/world/deposed-leader-of-burkina-faso-is-executed-with-12-aides.html Deposed Leader of Burkina Faso Is Executed With 12 Aides 17 October 1987 The New York Times 22 December 2018 Immediately, Compaoré assumed the presidency; he cited deterioration in relations with neighbouring countries as one of the reasons for the coup, and stated that Sankara jeopardised foreign relations with former colonial power France and neighbouring Ivory Coast.Bonkoungou Mathieu 2007-10-17 Burkina Faso Salutes "Africa's Che" Thomas Sankara https://www.reuters.com/article/economy/burkina-faso-salutes-quotafricas-chequot-thomas-sankara-idUSL17577712/ 2018-12-21 Reuters Aftermath Following the coup and although Sankara was known to be dead, some CDRs (formed by Sankara, inspired by the CDRs in CubaOtayek René 1986 Military Marxist Régimes in Africa The Revolutionary Process in Burkina Faso: Breaks and Continuities Markakis John Waller Michael London Frank Cass 95 113-517-654-X) mounted an armed resistance to the military for several days.Ake Claude 2001 Democracy and Development in Africa Washington, D.C. Brookings Institution Press 95 081-572-348-2 Compaoré described the killing of Sankara as an "accident," but the circumstances have never been properly investigated.http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/8d3fe6b44a5f39bdc1257172005150ec?Opendocument United Nations Human Rights Website - Treaty Bodies Database - Document - Jurisprudence - Burkina Faso Unhchr.ch 2013-04-30 Sankara's body was dismembered, and he was buried in an unmarked grave."Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man" by California Newsreel. His widow Mariam and two children fled the nation.2007-09-30 Canadian Council on International Law - Sankara v. Burkina Faso http://www.ccil-ccdi.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=225&Itemid=76 2024-12-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20070930045320/http://www.ccil-ccdi.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=225&Itemid=76 30 September 2007 In 1987 the government had claimed Sankara died of natural causes. But a 2015 autopsy revealed that Sankara's body was "riddled" with "more than a dozen" bullets, as reported by one of the lawyers representing Mariam Sankara.http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/thomas-sankara-body-africas-che-guevara-riddled-bullets-autopsy-reveals-three-decades-after-1523905 Thomas Sankara: Body of Africa's Che Guevara riddled with bullets, autopsy reveals three decades after death Iaccino Ludovica 14 October 2015 International Business Times UK 31 May 2016 After the coup, Compaoré introduced a policy of "rectification," immediately reversed the nationalizations, overturned nearly all of Sankara's leftist and Third Worldist policies, and rejoined the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to bring in "desperately needed" funds to restore the "shattered" economy.Burkina Faso, 2nd Mason Knight 2011 The Globe Pequot Press Inc. 31 9781841623528 Katrina James Initially ruling in a triumvirate under the Popular Front with Major Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani and Captain Henri Zongo, in September 1989 Compaoré had these two arrested, charged with plotting to overthrow the government, summarily tried, and executed."Burkina Faso (Upper Volta): Independence to the Present" https://web.archive.org/web/20200827012208/http://www.bookrags.com/tandf/burkina-faso-independence-to-the-tf/ 2020-08-27 , Encyclopedia of African History Compaoré went on to rule the country until he was ousted in the 2014 Burkinabé uprising.31 October 2014 Burkina Faso general takes over as Compaore resigns https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29851445 BBC News 31 October 2014 In 2025, Sankara and those killed alongside him in the 1987 coup were reinterred in a mausoleum built on the site of the Conseil de l’Entente in Ouagadougou.https://www.africanews.com/2025/05/19/thomas-sankaras-mausoleum-opens-to-honor-revolutionary-leader/ Thomas Sankara's mausoleum opens to honor revolutionary leader 19 May 2025 Africanews 19 May 2025 Liberian involvement Prince Johnson, a Liberian warlord allied to Charles Taylor, went to Burkina Faso in 1987 to get training for his rebels. While there, he was forced to be part of the assassination of Sankara and his comrades. After returning to Liberia, Johnson was known for supervising the assassination of president Samuel Doe on Taylor's behalf in another coup. He later told the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the coup in Liberia was organized by Taylor, and that he had been freed from prison by the US.http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-08-27-us-freed-taylor-to-overthrow-doe-liberias-trc-hears US freed Taylor to overthrow Doe, Liberia's TRC hears The M&G Online 27 August 2008 15 October 2014 References See also History of Burkina Faso Coup Category:1980s coups d'état Category:1987 conflicts 1987 Category:October 1987 in Africa