Thomas Sankara
1949 – 1987 Burkinabe army officer, president, revolutionary
The revolutionary president of Burkina Faso who rejected aid and debt before his 1987 assassination.
- Religion
- Raised Roman Catholic; secular in office
- Affiliations
- National Council of the Revolution (Burkina Faso)
Thomas Sankara took power in Burkina Faso in 1983 and pursued radical self-reliance, land reform, vaccination drives, and women's rights. He denounced foreign debt as a tool of continued domination and urged African states to refuse to pay it. He was killed in a 1987 coup led by his former comrade Blaise Compaore, in which French and other foreign involvement has long been alleged but remains contested.
Connections
- rival of Blaise Compaore — Former comrade who took power in the coup that killed Sankara; convicted in absentia in 2022.
In the timeline
- 1987 Thomas Sankara denounces Third World debt at the OAU central figure
- 1987 Sankara calls for a united refusal to pay debt mentioned
- 1987 Thomas Sankara is killed in a Burkina Faso coup central figure
- 1987 Thomas Sankara killed in Ouagadougou coup central figure