Burkina Faso held reburial ceremony of former revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara

The body of Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara was buried Thursday alongside 12 of his comrades at the spot where they were assassinated 36 years ago.

Prime Minister of Burkina Faso Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla graced the ceremony.

Sankara came to power in August 1983 as an army captain, at the age of 33. The man marked the history of the country and that of the entire continent.

Nicknamed Africa’s Che Guevara, Sankara was utterly against colonialism and neocolonialism.

He changed the country’s name from the colonial-era Upper Volta to Burkina Faso – “the land of honest men” – and pushed through a range of reforms, including promoting vaccination and banning female genital mutilation.

Sankara and a dozen others were gunned down by a hit squad at a meeting of the ruling National Revolutionary Council in the capital Ouagadougou.

Several people and witnesses blamed his comrade-in-arms, Blaise Compaore, for his assassination as the latter seized power.

Compaore ruled the country for 27 years with iron fist. He was ousted in 2014 in a coup.

After Compaore’s downfall, the 13 bodies were exhumed from a cemetery on the outskirts of the city for an investigation. A court in April 2022 condemned Compaore to life imprisonment in abstentia in connection with Sankara’s assassination.