Blaise Compaore - The African Mirror

Jul

2022

Burkina Faso’s ousted ex-president Compaore returns for summit

BURKINA FASO'S ex-president Blaise Compaore returned from exile, almost eight years after he was toppled in an uprising, to take part in a meeting with interim president Paul-Henri Damiba and other former leaders. Compaore, 71, has returned to the West African country despite being convicted in absentia in April to life in prison for complicity in his predecessor Thomas Sankara's murder. Lawyers for Sankara's family have demanded that Compaore be arrested on arrival, although Burkinabe media have speculated in recent days that he could be granted a pardon. Ivory Coast, where he took refuge in 2014, has repeatedly refused to…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Burkina Faso’s ex-president Compaore to return for first time since ouster

WORLD

THIAM NDIAGA FORMER Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaore will return from exile for the first time since being ousted in a 2014 uprising, Burkinabe authorities said, despite his conviction earlier this year for complicity in his predecessor's murder. Compaore, who governed for 27 years, was invited by the ruling military junta to take part in a meeting on Friday between interim president Paul-Henri Damiba and several former presidents to discuss "questions linked to the higher interests of the nation", the presidency said in a statement. The junta seized power in a January coup that it justified by citing rising Islamist…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Sankara murder: Ex-Burkina Faso leader jailed for life

NEWS

THIAM NDIAGA BURKINA FASO'S former president Blaise Compaore was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for complicity in the 1987 murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara in a coup, a military tribunal ruled on Wednesday. The charismatic Marxist revolutionary Sankara was gunned down in the West African nation's capital Ouagadougou at the age of 37, four years after he took power in a previous putsch. Two of Compaore's former top associates, Hyacinthe Kafando and Gilbert Diendere, were also sentenced to life imprisonment. All three have previously denied involvement in Sankara's death along with eleven other defendants accused of involvement in…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Compaore charged with Sankara’s murder

NEWS

A Burkina Faso court charged former President Blaise Compaore in absentia yesterday in connection with the 1987 murder of then-President Thomas Sankara, one of the most infamous killings in Africa's post-independence history. Sankara, a charismatic Marxist revolutionary often called "Africa's Che Guevara", was assassinated during a coup led by his former friend Compaore. Compaore went on to rule Burkina Faso for 27 years before being ousted in a 2014 uprising and fleeing to Ivory Coast, where he is believed still to live. He has previously denied any involvement in Sankara's death. A military tribunal yesterday charged Compaore with complicity in…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Allies of Burkina Faso’s Kabore retain control of parliament

NEWS

THE ruling coalition of Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore, who was re-elected to a second term last week, has retained its majority in parliament, the electoral commission said. Kabore's People's Movement for Progress (MPP) and allied parties won about 90 of 127 seats in the Nov. 22 vote, official results showed. The Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party of former president Blaise Compaore, who was ousted from power by an uprising in 2014, has become the largest opposition party in parliament with 20 seats, according to the results. Kabore was declared the provisional winner of the presidential election on…