On August 4, 1983, Marxist revolutionary Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara came to power in the French Upper Volta (present-day Burkina Faso). A fighter for freedom and justice, he rejected colonial dependence, set the country on the course of economic independence and social-democratic development, and carried out innovative reforms.
During the four years of his presidency, Burkina Faso achieved record economic growth, much to the indignation of its former colonial rulers. Sankara was assassinated during a coup organized with the help of the French military. More than 30 years after this crime, many of its perpetrators have still not been punished.
Sankara’s political path
The future president was born in 1949 and was the tenth child in a Catholic family. His father, a member of the French army, was a representative of the Mossi people – the country’s largest ethnic group – and
— source rt.com | Daria Sukhova | 2 Jan, 2024