Former Burkina Faso leader Blaise Compaoré begged Thomas Sankara’s family and the Burkinabe people for forgiveness for all the crimes perpetrated while he was in power in a letter delivered to the media by the government spokesman.
As Burkinabes examine the method and sincerity of the former president of state Blaise Compaoré’s appeal for pardon, Compaore’s apologies, which was made public on Tuesday, is receiving conflicting responses.
I would have cheered if they had simply said, “I throw myself at the disposal of my country’s legal system,” at the end of the letter. a bystander says.
In a message read out by the government’s spokesman Lionel Bilgo, he stated, “I ask the Burkinabe people for forgiveness for all the deeds I may have performed during my reign, and especially the family of my brother and friend Thomas Sankara.”
In a coup that took place in 1987 and saw the assassination of Sankara by a death squad, Compaore took control of the country in West Africa. Throughout his 27 years in power, discussing the brutal killing of his former companion in arms remained taboo.
In April, a Burkinabe court sentenced him to life in prison in absentia for his part in the murder.
Compaore said, “I assume responsibility for all the suffering and tragedies faced by all victims throughout my terms as leader of the country and regret from the bottom of my heart. I implore their families to grant me their forgiveness.”
The Thomas Sankara International Committee Memorial’s Secretary General, Luc Damiba, expresses disappointment in Compaore: “You have not yet been condemned or punished, and you have not even acknowledged your acts.”
Blaise Compaore visited Burkina Faso again this month for several days without being detained, according to an invitation from the military ruler of the nation, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who did so in the sake of “national reconciliation.”
Civil society organizations and political parties expressed outrage at the visit, saying doing so should not come at the expense of impunity.
Sankara, a fiery Marxist-Leninist who denounced the West for neocolonialism and hypocrisy, came to power at the young age of 33 as an army captain.
A little over four years later, on the same day as the coup that installed his former friend in arms as president, he was slain.
On October 15, 1987, a hit squad assassinated him along with 12 of his coworkers at a National Revolutionary Council meeting.
There is still a strong foundation of support for Sankara’s egalitarian and pan-Africanist views, and memorials to him have been built in the nation.
