View source for Thomas Sankara

{{Short description|President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Captain]]
| name                = Thomas Sankara
| image               = Thomas Sankara in Harlem (1984).png
| caption             = Sankara speaking in [[Harlem]], U.S., in 1984
| order               = 1st
| office              = President of Burkina Faso
| primeminister       = ''Vacant''
| term_start          = 4 August 1983
| term_end            = 15 October 1987
| predecessor         = [[Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo]] (as President of Upper Volta)
| successor           = [[Blaise Compaoré]]
| order2              = 5th
| office2             = Prime Minister of Upper Volta
| term_start2         = 10 January 1983
| term_end2           = 17 May 1983
| predecessor2        = [[Saye Zerbo]]
| president2          = Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo
| successor2          = ''Post abolished''
| office3             = Secretary of State for Information
| term_start3         = 9 September 1981
| term_end3           = 21 April 1982
| birth_name          = Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|df=y|1949|12|21}}
| birth_place         = [[Yako, Burkina Faso|Yako]], [[French Upper Volta|Upper Volta]], French West Africa
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|df=y|1987|10|15|1949|12|21}}
| death_place         = [[Ouagadougou]], Burkina Faso
| death_cause         = [[1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état|Assassination]]
| party               = [[African Independence Party (Burkina Faso)|African Independence Party]]{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}
| resting_place       = Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| spouse              = [[Mariam Sankara]]
| children            = 2<!--{{ubl|Philippe Sankara|Auguste Sankara}}-->
| serviceyears        = 1966–1987
| allegiance          = {{Plainlist|
* {{Flag|Upper Volta}}
* {{Flagu|Burkina Faso}}
}}
| battles             = [[Agacher Strip War]]<br />[[1982 Upper Voltan coup d'état]]<br />[[1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état]]<br />[[1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état]]
| signature           = Signature of Thomas Sankara.png
| rank                = [[File:Burkinabe Army 1983 OF-2.svg|22px]] [[Captain]]
| module2            = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Thomas Sankara voice.ogg|title=Sankara's voice|type=speech|description={{br entries|Recorded 1984}}}}
}}

'''Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara'''{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|t|oʊ|ˈ|m|ɑː|_|s|ɑː|n|ˈ|k|ɑː|.|ɹ|ɑː|audio=En-us-Thomas Sankara from Burkina Faso pronunciation (Voice of America).ogg}}, {{Respell|toh|MAH|_|sahn|KAH|rah}}; {{IPA|fr|tɔmɑ izidɔʁ nɔɛl sɑ̃kaʁa}}}} (21 December 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a Burkinabé military officer, [[Marxism|Marxist]] and [[Pan-Africanism|Pan-Africanist]] revolutionary who served as the [[List of heads of state of Burkina Faso|President of Burkina Faso]] from 1983, [[1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état|following his takeover in a coup]], until [[1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état|his assassination]] in 1987.

After Sankara was appointed [[List of prime ministers of Burkina Faso|Prime Minister]] of the [[Republic of Upper Volta]] in 1983, he had political disputes with the sitting government that resulted in his eventual imprisonment. While he was under [[house arrest]], a group of [[Revolutionary|revolutionaries]] seized power on his behalf in a popular [[Coup d'état|coup]] later that year.<ref name=":9"/><ref>{{cite web|author-last=McGuffin|author-first=Sean|title=Revolution in the Land of the Incorruptible: Burkina Faso in 1984|url=https://www.odu.edu/content/dam/odu/offices/mun/2018/ib-crisis-burkina-faso.pdf|access-date=6 January 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630065053/https://ww1.odu.edu/content/dam/odu/offices/mun/2018/ib-crisis-burkina-faso.pdf|archive-date=30 June 2023}}</ref>

At the age of 33, Sankara became the President of the [[Republic of Upper Volta]] and launched an unprecedented series of social, ecological, and economic reforms that were part of what he referred to as the [[people's democratic revolution]]. In 1984, Sankara oversaw the renaming of the country as [[Burkina Faso]] ('land of the upright people'), and personally wrote its national anthem.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author-last1=Hubert|author-first1=Jules Deschamps|title=Burkina Faso|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Burkina-Faso|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409175723/https://www.britannica.com/place/Burkina-Faso|access-date=9 April 2019|archive-date=9 April 2019}}</ref><ref name="worldatlas">{{cite web|author-last1=Molly|author-first1=John|title=What Do the Colors and Symbols of the Flag of Burkina Faso Mean?|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-do-the-colors-and-symbols-of-the-flag-of-burkina-faso-mean.html|website=World Atlas|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517210039/https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-do-the-colors-and-symbols-of-the-flag-of-burkina-faso-mean.html|access-date=17 May 2019|archive-date=17 May 2019}}</ref> His foreign policy was centered on [[anti-imperialism]] and he rejected loans and capital from such organizations as the [[International Monetary Fund]]. However, he welcomed some foreign aid in an effort to boost the domestic economy, diversify the sources of assistance, and make Burkina Faso [[self-sustainability|self-sufficient]].{{sfn|Murrey|2018|p=171}}

His domestic policies included [[famine]] prevention, agrarian expansion, [[land reform]], and suspending rural [[poll tax]]es, as well as a nationwide literacy campaign and [[vaccination]] program to reduce [[meningitis]], [[yellow fever]] and [[measles]]. Sankara's health programmes distributed millions of doses of vaccines to children across Burkina Faso.{{sfn|Murrey|2018|p=73}}<ref name=":6">{{cite journal|date=October 1985|title=Vaccination commando: Burkina Faso|journal=Salubritas|volume=8|issue=4|pages=1|issn=0191-5789|pmid=12340574}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{cite web|author-last=Kessler|author-first=Susi|date=1987|title=Speeding up child immunization|url=https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/48240/WHF_1987_8(2)_p216-220.pdf}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{citation|author-last=Murrey|author-first=Amber|title=Thomas Sankara and a Political Economy of Happiness|date=2020|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38922-2_10|work=The Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy|pages=193–208|editor-last=Oloruntoba|editor-first=Samuel Ojo|series=Palgrave Handbooks in IPE|place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-38922-2_10|isbn=978-3-030-38922-2|s2cid=226439167|access-date=31 December 2020|editor-last2=Falola|editor-first2=Toyin|url-access=subscription}}</ref> His government also focused on building schools, health centres, water reservoirs, and infrastructure projects.<ref name=":9"/><ref name=":5"/> He combatted [[desertification]] of the [[Sahel]] by planting more than 10 million trees.<ref>{{cite web|title="Our stomachs will make themselves heard": What Sankara can teach us about food justice today|url=https://www.pambazuka.org/food-health/%E2%80%9Cour-stomachs-will-make-themselves-heard%E2%80%9D-what-sankara-can-teach-us-about-food-justice|access-date=31 December 2020|website=[[Pambazuka News]]|date=5 May 2016|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3"/><ref name=":8">{{cite news|date=6 March 2015|title=Burkina Faso's revolutionary hero Thomas Sankara to be exhumed|language=en-GB|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/06/burkina-fasos-revolutionary-hero-thomas-sankara-to-be-exhumed|access-date=31 December 2020|issn=0261-3077|quote=Under Sankara the government also prioritised gender quality, working towards the end of female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy. [...] But Sankara was in power long enough to make enemies and sow doubts about his political philosophy. He set up 'revolutionary people's tribunals' to try former public officials charged with political crimes, and stripped powerful feudal chiefs of their rights and privileges.|author-last=Smith|author-first=David}}</ref> Socially, his government enforced the prohibition of [[female genital mutilation|female circumcision]], [[forced marriage]]s and [[polygamy]].<ref>{{cite book|author-last=Mayanja|author-first=Namakula|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6w3itAEACAAJ|title=A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara|date=2018|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=978-0-7453-3757-9|pages=236|language=en}}</ref> Sankara reinforced his [[Populism|populist]] image by ordering the sale of luxury vehicles and properties owned by the government in order to reduce costs. In addition, he banned what he considered the luxury of [[air conditioning]] in government offices, and homes of politicians.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Thomas Sankara And The Assassination Of Africa's Memory|last=Ezeanya {{!}}|first=Chika|url=https://saharareporters.com/2013/10/15/thomas-sankara-and-assassination-africa%E2%80%99s-memory-chika-ezeanya|access-date=19 May 2024|website=[[Sahara Reporters]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Akhalbey|first=Francis|date=25 June 2018|title=How Thomas Sankara forced his government to use cheap cars to cut cost [Video]|url=https://face2faceafrica.com/article/how-thomas-sankara-forced-his-government-to-use-cheap-cars-to-cut-cost-video|access-date=19 May 2024|website=[[Face2Face Africa]]|language=en}}</ref> He established Cuban-inspired [[Committees for the Defense of the Revolution]] to serve as a new foundation of society and promote popular mobilization.<ref name="ReutersChe">{{cite news |date=17 October 2007 |title=Burkina Faso Salutes "Africa's Che" Thomas Sankara |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/economy/burkina-faso-salutes-quotafricas-chequot-thomas-sankara-idUSL17577712/ |publisher=[[Reuters]] |author-first=Mathieu |author-last=Bonkoungou}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Naʻīm|first1=Abd Allāh Aḥmad|url=http://archive.org/details/humanrightsinafr00abdu|title=Human rights in Africa : cross-cultural perspectives|last2=Deng|first2=Francis Mading|date=1990|publisher=[[Washington, D.C.]] : The Brookings Institution|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-8157-1796-6}}</ref> His [[Popular Revolutionary Tribunal]]s prosecuted public officials charged with [[Graft (politics)|graft]], political crimes<ref name=":8"/> and corruption, considering such elements of the state [[Counter-revolutionary|counter-revolutionaries]].{{sfn|Kasuka|2012|p=296}} [[Amnesty International]] criticised his government for alleged human rights violations, such as arbitrary detentions of political opponents.<ref name="Amnesty International 1988">{{cite book|author=[[Amnesty International]]|title=Burkina Faso: Political Imprisonment and the Use of Torture from 1983 to 1988|location=London|publisher=[[Amnesty International]]|date=1988}}</ref>

Sankara's revolutionary programmes and reforms for African self-reliance made him an icon to many of Africa's poverty-stricken nations,<ref name="UprightDVD">{{cite web|url=http://newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0205|title=Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man|author=[[California Newsreel]]}}</ref> and the president remained popular with a substantial majority of his country's citizens, as well as those outside Burkina Faso.<ref>{{cite book|author-last=Shillington|author-first=Kevin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=umyHqvAErOAC|title=Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set|date=4 July 2013|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-135-45670-2|pages=184|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Burkina Faso: Remembering Sankara, rebel who renamed a country|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/burkina-faso-remembering-sankara-rebel-renamed-country-030821411.html|access-date=6 January 2021|website=Yahoo|language=en|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108071123/https://www.yahoo.com/news/burkina-faso-remembering-sankara-rebel-renamed-country-030821411.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some of his policies alienated elements of the former ruling class, including [[Tribal chief|tribal leaders]] — and the governments of [[France]] and its ally the [[Ivory Coast]].<ref name="ReutersChe"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7045029.stm|title=Burkina commemorates slain leader|date=15 October 2007|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=15 October 2014}}</ref>

On 15 October 1987, Sankara was assassinated by troops led by [[Blaise Compaoré]], who assumed leadership of the country shortly thereafter. Compaoré retained power until the [[2014 Burkina Faso uprising]]. In 2021, he was formally charged by a military tribunal with the murder of Sankara and found guilty.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilkins|first=Henry|title=Burkinabe ex-President Compaore charged in Thomas Sankara murder|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/13/burkina-faso-ex-president-blaise-compaore-charged-thomas-sankara-murder|access-date=30 January 2024|website=[[Al Jazeera]]|language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:Burkina Faso map.png|thumb|A map showing the major cities of Burkina Faso]]
Thomas Sankara was born Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara<ref name=":0">{{cite book|author-last=Harsch|author-first=Ernest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGDGBAAAQBAJ|title=Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary|date=1 November 2014|publisher=[[Ohio University Press]]|isbn=9780821445075|pages=27}}</ref> on 21 December 1949 in [[Yako, Burkina Faso|Yako]], [[French Upper Volta]], as the third of ten children to Joseph and Marguerite Sankara. His father, Joseph Sankara, a [[Gendarmerie|gendarme]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ouaga-ca-bouge.net/Deces-de-Joseph-sambo-pere-du.html|title=Décès de Joseph sambo père du Président Thomas Sankara – Ouagadougou au Burkina Faso|language=fr|trans-title=Death of Joseph Sambo father of President Thomas Sankara – Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso|website=ouaga-ca-bouge.net|access-date=7 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817134416/http://www.ouaga-ca-bouge.net/Deces-de-Joseph-sambo-pere-du.html|archive-date=17 August 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> was of [[Silmi-mossi|Silmi–Mossi]] heritage, while his mother, Marguerite Kinda, was of direct [[Mossi people|Mossi]] descent.<ref name=dictionary>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of African Biography|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|volume=6|year=2012|pages=268|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39JMAgAAQBAJ|isbn=9780195382075}}</ref> He spent his early years in [[Gaoua]], a town in the humid southwest to which his father was transferred as an auxiliary gendarme. As the son of one of the few African functionaries then employed by the colonial state, he enjoyed a relatively privileged position. The family lived in a brick house with the families of other gendarmes at the top of a hill overlooking the rest of Gaoua.<ref name=":0"/>

Sankara attended primary school at [[Bobo-Dioulasso]]. He applied himself seriously to his schoolwork and excelled in mathematics and French. He went to church often and, impressed with his energy and eagerness to learn, some of the priests encouraged Thomas to go on to [[seminary]] school once he finished primary school. Despite initially agreeing, he took the exam required for entry to the sixth grade in the secular educational system and passed. Thomas's decision to continue with his education at the nearest [[lycée]], [[Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly|Ouezzin Coulibaly]] (named after a pre-independence [[Nationalism|nationalist]]), proved to be a turning point. He left his father's household to attend the lycée in [[Bobo-Dioulasso]], the country's commercial centre. There Sankara made close friends, including Fidèle Too, whom he later named a minister in his government; and [[Soumane Touré]], who was in a more advanced class.<ref name=":0"/>

His [[Catholic Church in Burkina Faso|Roman Catholic]] parents wanted him to become a priest, but he chose to enter the [[Burkina Faso Armed Forces|military]]. The military was popular at the time, having just ousted [[Maurice Yaméogo]], the first but unpopular president of the new republic. 

Many young intellectuals viewed the military  as a national institution that might potentially help to discipline the inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy, counterbalance the inordinate influence of traditional chiefs, and generally help modernize the country. Acceptance into the military academy was accompanied by a scholarship; Sankara could not easily afford the costs of further education otherwise. He took the entrance exam and passed.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=britannica>{{cite encyclopedia|author-last=Ray|author-first=Carina|title=Thomas Sankara|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date=17 December 2023|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Sankara}}</ref>

He entered the military academy of [[Kadiogo Province|Kadiogo]] in [[Ouagadougou]] with the academy's first intake of 1966 at the age of 17.<ref name=":0"/> While there he witnessed [[1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état|the first military coup d'état in Upper Volta]], led by Lieutenant-Colonel [[Sangoulé Lamizana]] (3 January 1966). The trainee officers were taught by civilian professors in the social sciences. [[Adama Touré (PAI general secretary)|Adama Touré]], who taught history and geography, was the academic director at the time and known for having progressive ideas, although he did not publicly share them. 

He invited a few of his brightest and more political students, among them Sankara, to join informal discussions outside the classroom about [[imperialism]], [[neocolonialism]], [[socialism]] and [[communism]], the [[Russian Revolution|Soviet]] and [[Chinese Communist Revolution|Chinese revolutions]], the [[liberation movement]]s in Africa, and similar topics. This was the first time Sankara was systematically exposed to a revolutionary perspective on Upper Volta and the world. Aside from his academic and extracurricular political activities, Sankara also pursued his passion for music, playing the guitar in a band called [[Tout-à-Coup Jazz]].<ref name=":0"/><ref>{{cite news|last=Molano|first=Eduardo Molano|location=Ouagadougou|date=27 September 2015|title=Jazz, rivalry and revolution: Burkina Faso recalls spirit of Sankara|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/27/jazz-and-revolution-burkina-faso-recalls-the-spirit-of-sankara|access-date=6 January 2021|work=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref>

In 1970, 20-year-old Sankara went for further military studies at the military academy of [[Antsirabe]] in [[Madagascar]], from which he graduated as a junior officer in 1973. At the Antsirabe academy, the range of instruction went beyond standard military subjects, which allowed Sankara to study [[Agricultural science|agriculture]], including how to raise crop yields and better the lives of farmers. He took up these issues in his own administration and country.<ref name=":0"/> During that period, he read profusely on history and military strategy, thus acquiring the concepts and analytical tools that he would later use in his reinterpretation of Burkinabe political history.{{sfn|Martin|2012}} He was also influenced by French leftist professors in Madagascar. Their intellectual influence on him was later superseded by that of [[Samir Amin]], whose concepts of auto-centered development and delinking from the global capitalist economy influenced him deeply (they were personal friends as well). Thomas Sankara's own speeches and works show also that his analytical strengths went beyond merely applying Cuban solutions, or Amin's ideas. Beyond Marxism, he drew also from religious sources (both the Bible and the Quran were among his favourite readings). His focus on the peasantry, developed independently from both Amin and [[Mao Zedong]], was especially important and influenced many in Burkina Faso and also later in other African countries.<ref> Adam Mayer: Military Marxism: Africa's Contribution to Revolutionary Theory, 1957-2023, Lexington Books, Lanham, 2025, pp. 138-146</ref>

==Military career==
After his basic military training in secondary school in 1966, Sankara began his military career at the age of 19. A year later he was sent to Madagascar for officer training at [[Antsirabe]], where he witnessed popular uprisings in 1971 and 1972 against the government of [[Philibert Tsiranana]]. During this period he first read the works of [[Karl Marx]] and [[Vladimir Lenin]], which profoundly influenced his political views for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Sankara|2007|p=20–21}}

Returning to Upper Volta in 1972, he fought in a border war between Upper Volta and Mali by 1974. He earned fame for his performance in the conflict, but years later would renounce the fighting as 'useless and unjust', a reflection of his growing [[political consciousness]].<ref name="Visionary">{{cite web|url=http://www.thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=527|title=The True Visionary Thomas Sankara|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612085355/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=527|archive-date=12 June 2010|first=Antonio de|last=Figueiredo|date=27 February 2008}}</ref>

In 1976 he became commander of the Commando Training Centre in [[Pô]]. During the presidency of Colonel [[Saye Zerbo]], a group of young officers formed a secret organization called ''[[Revolutionary Military Organization|ROC]]'', the best-known members being [[Henri Zongo]], [[Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani]], [[Blaise Compaoré]] and Sankara.{{sfn|Kasuka|2012|p=296}}<ref>{{cite web|date=28 June 2009|title=REFLECTIONS: Captain Thomas Sankara, we still mourn you!|url=https://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/78993|access-date=6 January 2021|website=The New Times {{!}} Rwanda|language=en}}</ref>

==Government posts==
Sankara was appointed Minister of Information in Saye Zerbo's military government in September 1981.<ref name=":0"/> Sankara differentiated himself from other government officials in many ways such as biking to work everyday, instead of driving in a car. While his predecessors would censor journalists and newspapers, Sankara encouraged investigative journalism and allowed the media to print whatever it found.<ref>{{cite journal|author-last=Brittain|author-first=Victoria|date=3 January 2007|title=Introduction to Sankara & Burkina Faso|journal=Review of African Political Economy|language=en|volume=12|issue=32|pages=39–47|doi=10.1080/03056248508703613|issn=0305-6244|doi-access=free}}</ref> This led to publications of government scandals by both privately owned and state-owned newspapers.<ref name=":0"/> He resigned on 12 April 1982 in opposition to what he saw as the regime's anti-labour drift, declaring 'Misfortune to those who gag the people!' ({{lang|fr|Malheur à ceux qui bâillonnent le peuple!}}).<ref name=":0"/>

After [[1982 Upper Voltan coup d'état|another coup]] (7 November 1982) brought to power Major-Doctor [[Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo]], Sankara became Prime Minister in January 1983. But he was dismissed a few months later, on 17 May. During those four months, Sankara pushed Ouédraogo's regime for more progressive reforms.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal|author-last=Skinner|author-first=Elliott P.|date=1988|title=Sankara and the Burkinabe Revolution: Charisma and Power, Local and External Dimensions|journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies|volume=26|issue=3|pages=442–443|doi=10.1017/S0022278X0001171X|jstor=160892|s2cid=154453966|issn=0022-278X}}</ref> Sankara was arrested after the French President's African affairs adviser, {{ill|Guy Penne|fr}}, met with Col. Yorian Somé.<ref>{{cite journal|author-last=Martin|author-first=Guy|date=1987|title=Ideology and Praxis in Thomas Sankara's Populist Revolution of 4 August 1983 in Burkina Faso|journal=Issue: A Journal of Opinion|volume=15|pages=77–90|doi=10.2307/1166927|jstor=1166927|issn=0047-1607}}</ref> Henri Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani were also placed under arrest. The decision to arrest Sankara proved to be very unpopular with the younger officers in the military regime. His imprisonment created enough momentum for his friend Blaise Compaoré to lead another coup.<ref name=":2"/>

==Presidency==
{{see also|History of Burkina Faso#Burkina Faso}}

A [[1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état|coup d'état]] organized by Blaise Compaoré made Sankara President on 4 August 1983 at the age of 33. The coup d'état was supported by [[Libyan Arab Jamahiriya|Libya]], which was at the time on the verge of war with France in [[Chad]] (see [[history of Chad]]).

Sankara identified as a revolutionary and was inspired by the examples of Cuba's [[Fidel Castro]] and [[Che Guevara]], and Ghana's military leader [[Jerry Rawlings]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Egypt & Africa – Thomas Sankara|url=https://africa.sis.gov.eg/english/figures/politics/thomas-sankara/|access-date=1 January 2021|website=}}</ref> As President, he promoted the 'Democratic and Popular Revolution' ({{lang|fr|Révolution démocratique et populaire}}, or RDP). The ideology of the Revolution was defined by Sankara as [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] in a speech on 2 October 1983, the {{lang|fr|Discours d'orientation politique}} (DOP),<ref>{{cite web|author-last=Jaffré|author-first=Bruno|date=23 April 2015|title=The Political Orientation Speech Thomas Sankara|url=https://www.thomassankara.net/the-political-orientation-speech-thomas-sankara/?lang=en|access-date=7 May 2021|website=My Blog|language=en-US}}</ref> written by his close associate [[Valère Somé]]. His policy was oriented toward fighting corruption and promoting reforestation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20210117-can-great-green-wall-carry-sankara-s-ecological-pan-african-dream|title=Can the 'Great Green Wall' carry out Sankara's ecological, pan-African dream?|author-first=Benjamin|author-last=Dodman|date=17 January 2021|access-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128012101/https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20210117-can-great-green-wall-carry-sankara-s-ecological-pan-african-dream|archive-date=28 January 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 4 August 1984, the first anniversary of his accession, he renamed the country Burkina Faso, meaning 'the land of upright people' in [[Mooré]] and [[Dyula language|Dyula]], the two major languages of the country. He also gave it a new flag and wrote a new national anthem (''[[Ditanyè]]'').<ref>{{cite web|date=4 August 2021|title=Le 4 août 1984, Thomas Sankara rebaptisait la Haute-Volta en Burkina Faso|trans-title=On August 4, 1984, Thomas Sankara renamed Upper Volta in Burkina Faso|url=https://www.burkina24.com/2021/08/04/le-4-aout-1984-thomas-sankara-rebaptisait-la-haute-volta-en-burkina-faso/|access-date=6 January 2022|website=L'Actualité du Burkina Faso 24h/24|language=fr-FR}}</ref>

===Council of the Revolution===
When Sankara assumed power on 4 August, he named the leadership of the country the Council of the Revolution (CNR). This was a way for Sankara to signal that he was going to try for political and social change. The CNR composed of both civilians and soldiers, all ordinary people. But the member count was secret for security reasons and known only to Sankara and others in his inner circle.

The CNR regularly met to talk about important plans and decisions for the country. They helped give advice and direction to the government's actions. They voted on suggestions and decisions from governments officials; the decision making was [[collective]]. On some occasions, they overruled even proposals favoured personally by Sankara.<ref name=":0"/>

===Healthcare and public works===

Sankara's first priorities after taking office were feeding, housing, and providing medical care to his people who desperately needed it. He launched a mass vaccination program aimed at eradicating [[polio]], [[meningitis]], and [[measles]]. From 1983 to 1985, two million Burkinabé were vaccinated, significantly improving public health outcomes.{{sfn|Murrey|2018|p=73}}<ref name=":6"/><ref name=":7"/><ref name=":5">{{cite book|author-last=Harsch|author-first=Ernest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGDGBAAAQBAJ|title=Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary|date=1 November 2014|publisher=[[Ohio University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8214-4507-5|location=|pages=38|language=en}}</ref>

Prior to Sankara's presidency, the infant mortality rate in Burkina Faso was about 20.8%. During his time in office, it fell to 14.5%.{{sfn|Murrey|2018|p=171}} His administration was also the first African government to publicly recognize the [[Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS|AIDS epidemic]] as a major threat to Africa.<ref>{{cite book|title=HIV/AIDS, illness, and African well-being|author-first1=Toyin|author-last1=Falola|author-first2=Matthew M.|author-last2=Heaton|publisher=University Rochester Press|date=2007|isbn=978-1-58046-240-2|pages=290}}</ref>

In addition to healthcare, Sankara focused on large-scale housing and infrastructure projects. He established brick factories to help build houses and reduce urban slums. This initiative provided affordable housing and created jobs, contributing to economic stability.<ref name="africanagenda.net">{{cite web|url=http://africanagenda.net/africas-che-guevara-and-burkina-faso/|title=Africa's Che Guevara and Burkina Faso – African Agenda – A new perspective on Africa|website=africanagenda.net|date=9 January 2020}}</ref>

To combat [[deforestation]], Sankara initiated "The People's Harvest of Forest Nurseries," supplying 7,000 village nurseries and organizing the planting of several million trees. This reforestation effort not only aimed to restore the environment but also to create sustainable agricultural practices. His administration connected all regions of the country through an extensive road and rail-building program. Over {{Convert|700|km|abbr=on}} of rail was laid by Burkinabé people, facilitating manganese extraction in 'The Battle of the Rails,' without any foreign aid or outside money. These initiatives demonstrated his belief that African countries could achieve prosperity without foreign assistance.<ref name=":3"/>

Sankara also prioritized education to combat the country's 90% illiteracy rate. His administration implemented successful education programs, resulting in significant improvements in literacy. After his assassination, teachers' strikes and the new regime's unwillingness to negotiate led to the creation of 'Revolutionary Teachers.' In 1986, nearly 2,500 teachers were fired due to a strike, prompting the government to invite anyone with a college degree to teach through the revolutionary teachers' program. Volunteers received a 10-day training course before starting to teach.<ref name="UprightDVD"/>

===Trade===
In terms of trade policy, Sankara favoured [[autarky]], banning several items from being imported into Burkina Faso and encouraging [[import substitution industrialization]]. One example of this was cotton, where domestically produced fabric quickly came to be used exclusively. He also adopted this approach in relation to food crops, extolling Burkinabes to consume locally grown food instead of rice and grain imported from Europe.<ref name=abidde>{{cite book |last1=Abidde |first1=Sabella Ogbobode |year=2023 |chapter=Thomas Sankara and Jerry Rawlings: Intellectuals, Populists, Revolutionaries, and Pan-Africanists |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-31427-8_6 |editor-last1=Abidde |editor-first1=Sabella Ogbobode |editor-last2=Kumah-Abiwu |editor-first2=Felix |title=The Political Impact of African Military Leaders: Soldiers as Intellectuals, Nationalists, Pan-Africanists, and Statesmen |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-31427-8 |series=Contributions to Political Science |publication-place=[[Cham, Switzerland]] |publisher=[[Springer Nature]]|pages=89-103 |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-31427-8_6 |isbn= 978-3-031-31427-8 |issn=2198-7297 |access-date=13 October 2025}}</ref>

===Agriculture===
In the 1980s, more than 90% of the populace were still agrarian farmers. Less than six percent of land that could be [[Irrigation|irrigated]] was receiving irrigation, while the rest relied on rain, which was highly unreliable and inadequate. Only 10% of the population had animals for plowing, whilst the rest relied on individual use of short hoes to plow. Few [[Livestock|livestock herders]] had access to [[fodder]]; they had to roam the countryside in search of grazing land and watering spots. Because of this, hunger remained prevalent. In years of drought, the rural population was threatened by famines.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Harsch|first=Ernest|title=Thomas Sankara an African revolutionary|date=1 November 2014|publisher=Ohio University Press|isbn=978-0821421260|edition=Illustrated|pages=94–95|language=en}}</ref>

In Sankara's five-year plan, some 71% of projected investments for the productive sectors were allocated to agriculture, livestock, fishing, wildlife and forests. In three years, 25% more land was irrigated because of volunteer projects. In Sourou Valley, a [[dam]] was built within a few months almost entirely by volunteer labour. The use of fertilizers increased by 56%. Hundreds of tractors were bought and imported for large-scale cooperative projects.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Harsch|first=Ernest|title=Thomas Sankara an African revolutionary|date=1 November 2014|publisher=Ohio University Press|isbn=978-0821421260|edition=Illustrated|pages=96|language=en}}</ref>

Hundreds of village cereal banks were built through collective labour organised by the CDRs to help farmers store and market their crops. In the past, farmers would have no way to store surplus grains and had to sell them to local merchants, who would sell the same crops back to the same village for twice the cost.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Harsch|first=Ernest|title=Thomas Sankara an African revolutionary|date=1 November 2014|publisher=Ohio University Press|isbn=978-0821421260|edition=Illustrated|pages=97|language=en}}</ref>

In August 1984, all land was [[Nationalization|nationalized]]. Previously, local chiefs had decided who could farm. In some areas, private land ownership had begun to arise. The total cereal production rose by 75% between 1983 and 1986.<ref name=":1"/> In four years, UN-analysts declared Burkinian agriculture as productive enough to be "food self-sufficient".<ref>{{Cite news|date=3 January 2020|title=Thomas Sankara, l'écologiste|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/01/03/thomas-sankara-l-ecologiste_6024742_3212.html|newspaper=Le Monde.fr}}</ref>

===Environment===
In the 1980s, when ecological awareness was still very low, Thomas Sankara was one of the few leaders to consider environmental protection a priority. He engaged in three major battles: against [[Wildfire|bush fires]], 'which will be considered as crimes and will be punished as such'; against [[Open range|cattle roaming]], 'which infringes on the rights of peoples because unattended animals destroy nature'; and against the chaotic cutting of firewood, 'whose profession will have to be organized and regulated'.

As part of a development program involving a large part of the population, ten million trees were planted in Burkina Faso in fifteen months during the revolution. To face the advancing desert and recurrent droughts, Thomas Sankara also proposed planting wooded strips of about fifty kilometers, crossing the country from east to west. He thought of extending this vegetation belt to other countries.

Beginning in October 1984, over the space of fifteen months Sankara's government planted ten million trees in a campaign of [[reforestation]]. Sankara said "In Burkina wood is our only source of energy. We have to constantly remind every individual of his duty to maintain and regenerate nature".{{sfn|Peterson|2021}}

===People's Revolutionary Tribunals===
Shortly after attaining power, Sankara constructed a system of courts known as the [[Popular Revolutionary Tribunal]]. The courts were created originally to try former government officials in a straightforward way so the average [[Demographics of Burkina Faso|Burkinabé]] could participate in or oversee trials of enemies of the revolution.<ref name="UprightDVD"/> They placed defendants on trial for corruption, tax evasion, or counter-revolutionary activity. Sentences for former government officials were light and often suspended. The tribunals have been alleged to have been only [[show trial]]s,<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=2012|chapter=Burkina Faso: Coups, 1966–1987|title=Encyclopedia of Conflicts since World War II|editor-last1=Ciment|editor-first1=James|editor-last2=Hill|editor-first2=Kenneth|location=London|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page=339|isbn=978-113-659-621-6}}</ref> held very openly with oversight from the public.

According to the [[United States Department of State|US State Department]], procedures in these trials, especially legal protections for the accused, did not conform to international standards. Defendants had to prove themselves innocent of the crimes they were charged with committing and were not allowed to be represented by counsel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/239057/348288_en.html|title=Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1986|author=US Department of State|date=1 February 1987|website=www.ecoi.net|access-date=29 January 2015|archive-date=2 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202103711/http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/239057/348288_en.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The courts were initially highly admired by the Burkinabé people but were eventually labeled corrupt and oppressive. So-called 'lazy workers' were tried and sentenced to work for free, or expelled from their jobs and discriminated against. Some created their own courts to settle scores and humiliate their enemies.<ref name="UprightDVD"/>{{better source needed|date=March 2021}}

===Revolutionary Defence Committees===
The [[Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Burkina Faso)|Committees for the Defense of the Revolution]] ({{lang|fr|Comités de Défense de la Révolution or CDRs}}) were formed as mass armed organizations. The CDRs were created as a counterweight to the power of the army as well as to promote political and social revolution. The idea for the Revolutionary Defence Committees was taken from Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whose [[Committees for the Defense of the Revolution]] had been created as a form of 'revolutionary vigilance'.<ref>{{cite web|author-last1=Baggins|author-first1=Brian|title=Establishing Revolutionary Vigilance in Cuba|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1960/09/29.htm|website=marxists.org}}</ref>

===Relations with the Mossi people===
A point of contention regarding Sankara's rule is the way he handled the [[Mossi people|Mossi ethnic group]]. The Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, and they adhere to a strict, traditional, hierarchical social system.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Mossi people|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mossi|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|language=en|access-date=12 May 2020}}</ref> At the top of the hierarchy is the [[List of rulers of Wogodogo|Morho Naba]], the chief or king of the Mossi people. Sankara viewed this arrangement as an obstacle to national unity, and proceeded to demote the Mossi elite. The Morho Naba was not allowed to hold courts. Local village chiefs were stripped of their executive powers, which were given to the CDR.<ref>{{cite journal|author-last=Wilkins|author-first=Michael|date=1989|title=The Death of Thomas Sankara and the Rectification of the People's Revolution in Burkina Faso|journal=African Affairs|volume=88|issue=352|pages=384|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098188|jstor=722692|issn=0001-9909}}</ref>

===Women's rights===
Sankara had extensively worked for women's rights and declared "There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women".<ref>{{cite web |date=January 2005 |title=Thomas Sankara: There is no true social revolution |url=https://newint.org/columns/speechmarks/2005/01/01/thomas-sankara |publisher=[[New Internationalist]]}}</ref>

Improving women's status in Burkinabé society was one of Sankara's explicit goals, and his government included a large number of women, an unprecedented policy priority in West Africa. His government banned [[female genital mutilation]], [[forced marriage]]s and [[polygamy]], while appointing women to high governmental positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant.<ref name="UprightDVD"/><ref name=":5"/> Sankara promoted [[Birth control|contraception]] and in 1986 all restrictions on contraception were removed.<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso|date=2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=lvi}}</ref> He also established a Ministry of Family Development and the Union of Burkina Women.{{sfn|Murrey|2018|p=217}}

Sankara recognized the challenges faced by African women when he gave his famous address to mark [[International Women's Day]] on 8 March 1987 in Ouagadougou. Sankara spoke to thousands of women, saying that the Burkinabé Revolution was 'establishing new social relations', which would be 'upsetting the relations of authority between men and women and forcing each to rethink the nature of both. This task is formidable but necessary'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pambazuka.net/en/category/features/89359|author-first=Ama|author-last=Biney|title=Revisiting Thomas Sankara, 26 years later – Pambazuka News|date=24 October 2013|website=pambazuka.net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425025633/http://www.pambazuka.net/en/category.php/features/89359|archive-date=25 April 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to being the first African leader to appoint women to major cabinet positions, he recruited them [[Women in the military|actively for the military]].<ref name="UprightDVD"/>

===Agacher Strip War===
{{main|Agacher Strip War}}
[[File:Moussa Traoré (1989) (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|209x209px|Moussa Traoré]]
Following the 1974 clashes between Burkina Faso and Mali over the disputed territory of the Agacher Strip, the [[Organisation of African Unity]] had created a mediation commission to resolve the disagreement and provide for an independent, neutral demarcation of the border. Both governments had declared that they would not use armed force to end the dispute.{{sfn|Naldi|1986|pp=971–972}}

But by 1983 the two countries disagreed about the work of the commission.{{sfn|Naldi|1986|p=972}} Sankara personally disliked Malian President [[Moussa Traoré]], who had taken power by deposing [[Modibo Keïta]]'s left-leaning regime.<ref name=michaud>{{cite news|author-last=Michaud|author-first=Paul|title=Burkina/Mali: Who started the war|newspaper=New African|pages=29–30|date=1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xLtAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> On 17 September Sankara visited Mali and met with Traoré. With Algerian mediation, the two agreed to have the border dispute settled by the [[International Court of Justice]] (ICJ) and subsequently petitioned the body to resolve the issue.{{sfn|Imperato|2019|loc=The Border Dispute with Burkina Faso}}

In July 1985 Burkina Faso declared the Malian secretary general of the [[ECOWAS|Economic Community of West Africa]], Drissa Keita, a ''[[persona non grata]]'' after he criticized Sankara's regime. In September Sankara delivered a speech in which he called for a revolution in Mali. Malian leaders were particularly sensitive to the inflammatory rhetoric, as their country was undergoing social unrest.{{sfn|Salliot|2010|p=23}}{{sfn|Englebert|2018|pp=154–155}}{{sfn|Murrey|2018|pp=46–47}} Around the same time, Sankara and other key figures in the CNR became convinced that Traoré was harbouring opposition to the Burkinabé regime in [[Bamako]] and plotting to provoke a border war, which would be used to support a counterrevolution.<ref name=roger>{{cite news|author-last=Roger|author-first=Benjamin|title=Il y a trente ans éclatait la "guerre de Noël" entre le Mali et le Burkina Faso|trans-title=Thirty years ago the "Christmas war" broke out between Mali and Burkina Faso|newspaper=Jeune Afrique|language=fr|date=25 December 2015|url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/288381/politique/il-y-a-quarante-ans-eclatait-la-guerre-de-noel-entre-le-mali-et-le-burkina/|access-date=7 November 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Burkina-Mali boundary dispute, US Department of State map.jpg|thumb|[[United States Department of State]] map showing the competing claims of Mali and Burkina Faso in the Agacher Strip]]
Tensions at the border began to rise on 24 November when a Burkinabé national was killed another near the border in [[Soum Province]]. Malian police crossed the boundary to arrest the murderer and also detained several members of a local Committee for the Defence of the Revolution who were preparing a tribunal. Three days later Malian police entered Kounia to 'restore order'. Burkina Faso made diplomatic representations on the incidents to Mali, but was given no formal response.

At the beginning of December, Burkina Faso informed Mali and other surrounding countries that it was conducting its decennial national census from 10 to 20 December.<ref name=AfricaAsia/> On 14 December military personnel entered the Agacher to assist with the census. Mali accused the military authorities of pressuring Malian citizens in border villages to register with the census, a charge which Burkina Faso disputed.<ref name=quarterly>{{cite news|title=Burkina and Mali fight a destructive border war|newspaper=Quarterly Economic Review of Togo, Niger, Benin, Burkina|issue=1|pages=25–26|publisher=Economist Intelligence Unit|date=1985|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1YWAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> In an attempt to reduce tensions, ANAD (a West African treaty organization) dispatched a delegation to Bamako and Ouagadougou to mediate. President of Algeria [[Chadli Bendjedid]] contacted Sankara and Traoré to encourage a peaceful resolution.<ref name=quarterly/> At the request of ANAD members, Burkina Faso announced the withdrawal of all military personnel from the disputed region.<ref name=institute>{{cite news|title=A war beyond the Burkina-Mali border|newspaper=Africa Special Report|page=39|publisher=Institute of African American Relations|date=1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCkRAQAAMAAJ}}</ref>

Despite the declared withdrawal, a 'war of the communiques' ensued as Burkinabé and Malian authorities exchanged hostile messages.{{Sfn|Salliot|2010|p=23}} Feeling threatened by Sankara, Traoré began preparing Mali for hostilities with Burkina Faso. Three ''groupements'' were formed and planned to invade Burkina Faso and converge on the city of [[Bobo-Dioulasso]]. Once there, they would rally Burkinabé opposition forces to take Ouagadougou and overthrow Sankara.<ref name=maliactu>{{cite web|url=https://maliactu.net/mali-moussa-traore-une-armee-pour-defendre-chaque-millimetre-carre-du-territoire-national/|author-last=Diarra|author-first=Diaoullèn Karamoko|title=Mali: Moussa Traore: Une armée pour défendre chaque millimètre carré du territoire national|trans-title=Mali: Moussa Traore: An army to defend every square millimeter of the national territory|date=14 August 2017|website=MaliActu|access-date=7 November 2020|language=fr}}</ref>

Former Sankara aide Paul Michaud wrote that Sankara had intended to provoke Mali into conflict with the aim of mobilizing popular support for his regime. According to Michaud, "an official—and reliable—Malian source" had reported that [[mobilization]] documents dating to 19 December were found on the bodies of fallen Burkinabé soldiers during the ensuing war.<ref name=michaud/>

Sankara's efforts to provide evidence of his bona fides were systematically undermined. 'It is hard to believe that the Malian authorities are unaware that the rumors circulating are false,' says U.S. Ambassador [[Leonardo Neher]]. In contrast to Michaud's assertion, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) cable states, 'The war was born of Bamako's hope that the conflict would trigger a coup in Burkina Faso.'<ref name="monde-diplomatique.fr">{{cite news|title=Mais qui a assassiné Thomas Sankara ?|url=https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2021/10/JAFFRE/63630|work=Le Monde diplomatique|date=1 October 2021|language=fr}}</ref>

At dawn on 25 December 1985, about 150 [[Malian Armed Forces]] tanks crossed the frontier and attacked several locations. Malian troops also attempted to envelop Bobo-Dioulasso in a [[Pincer movement|pincer]] attack. The Burkina Faso Army struggled to repel the offensive in the face of superior Malian firepower and were overwhelmed on the northern front;<ref name=roger/> Malian forces quickly secured the towns of Dionouga, Selba, Kouna, and Douna in the Agacher.{{sfn|Imperato|2019|loc=The Border Dispute with Burkina Faso}} The Burkinabé government in Ouagadougou received word of hostilities at about 13:00 and immediately issued mobilization orders. Various security measures were also imposed across the country, including nighttime [[Blackout (wartime)|blackouts]].

Burkinabé forces regrouped in the Dionouga area to [[Counterattack|counter-attack]].<ref name=AfricaAsia/> Captain Compaoré took command of this western front. Under his leadership soldiers split into small groups and employed [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla tactics]] against Malian tanks.<ref name=roger/><ref name=AfricaAsia>{{cite news|title=Burkina and Mali – War to What End?|newspaper=AfricaAsia|volume=2|pages=46–48|publisher=Sociéte d'éditions Afrique, Asie, Amérique latine|date=February 1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kmKFAAAAIAAJ}}</ref>

Immediately after hostilities began, other African leaders attempted to institute a truce.{{sfn|Imperato|2019|loc=The Border Dispute with Burkina Faso}} On the morning of 30 December, Burkina Faso and Mali agreed to an ANAD-brokered ceasefire.<ref name=AfricaAsia/> By then Mali had occupied most of the Agacher Strip.{{sfn|Naldi|1986|p=972}} More than 100 Burkinabé and approximately 40 Malian soldiers and civilians were killed during the war.<ref name=roger/> The Burkinabé towns of Ouahigouya, Djibo, and Nassambou were left badly damaged by the fighting.<ref name=quarterly/>

At an ANAD summit in [[Yamoussoukro]]{{sfn|Imperato|2019|loc=The Border Dispute with Burkina Faso}} on 17 January 1987, Traoré and Sankara met{{sfn|Rupley|Bangali|Diamitani|2013|p=lvi}} and formalized an agreement to end hostilities.{{sfn|Imperato|2019|loc=The Border Dispute with Burkina Faso}} The ICJ later split the Agacher; Mali received the more-densely populated western portion and Burkina Faso the eastern section centred on the [[Béli River]].{{sfn|Salliot|2010|p=22}}<ref name=watson>{{cite news|last=Watson|first=Nyle|title=Burkina–Mali: ICJ Boundary Decision Backs Both Sides|newspaper=Geographic Notes|issue=6|pages=18–20|publisher=Office of the Geographer, [[United States Department of State]]|date=15 July 1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnA9EFkn8o8C}}</ref> Both countries indicated their satisfaction with the judgement.{{sfn|Salliot|2010|p=22}}

Burkina Faso declared that the war was part of an 'international plot' to bring down Sankara's government. It rejected speculation that it was fought over rumoured mineral wealth in the Agacher.{{sfn|Johnson|1986|p=296}} The country's relatively poor performance in the conflict damaged the domestic credibility of the CNR.{{sfn|Uwechue|1991|p=600}} Some Burkinabé soldiers were angered by Sankara's failure to prosecute the war more aggressively and rally a counteroffensive against Mali.{{sfn|Murrey|2018|p=47}}

The conflict also demonstrated the country's weak international position and forced the CNR to craft a more moderate image of its policies and goals abroad. In the aftermath, the Burkinabé government made little reference to supporting revolution in other countries,{{sfn|Englebert|2018|pp=154–155}} and its relations with France modestly improved.{{sfn|Murrey|2018|p=48}} At a rally held after the war, Sankara conceded that his country's military was not adequately armed and announced the commutation of sentences for numerous political prisoners.{{sfn|Johnson|1986|pp=298–299}}

===Relations with other countries===

Thomas Sankara defined his program as anti-imperialist. In this respect, [[France]] became the main target of revolutionary rhetoric. When President [[François Mitterrand]] visited Burkina Faso in November 1986, Sankara criticized the French for having received [[P. W. Botha]], the [[Prime Minister of South Africa]], which still enforced [[apartheid]]; and [[Jonas Savimbi]], the leader of [[UNITA]], in France, referring to both men as 'covered in blood from head to toe'. In response, France reduced its economic aid to Burkina Faso by 80% between 1983 and 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telerama.fr/cinema/films/capitaine-thomas-sankara,483035.php|title=Capitaine Thomas Sankara de Christophe Cupelin – (2014) – Film documentaire|via=www.telerama.fr}}</ref>

{{ill|Guy Penne|fr}}, President Mitterrand's advisor on African affairs, organized a media campaign in France to denigrate Thomas Sankara in collaboration with the [[DGSE]]. It provided the press with a series of documents on supposed atrocities intended to feed articles against him.<ref name="monde-diplomatique.fr"/>

Sankara set up a program of cooperation with [[Cuba]]. After meeting with [[Fidel Castro]], Sankara arranged to send young Burkinabés to Cuba in September 1986 to receive professional training and to participate in the country's development upon their return. These were volunteers recruited on the basis of a competition; priority was given to orphans and young people from rural and disadvantaged areas. Some 600 teenagers were flown to Cuba to complete their schooling and receive professional training to become doctors (particularly gynecologists), engineers, or agronomists.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/08/11/les-burkinabes-formes-a-cuba-sont-restes-fideles-a-sankara-et-a-la-mission-qu-il-leur-avait-confiee_6048706_3212.html|title="les Burkinabés formés à Cuba sont restés fidèles à Sankara et à la mission qu'il leur avait confiée"|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|date=11 August 2020}}</ref>

Denouncing the support of the [[United States]] to [[Israel]] and [[South Africa]], he called on African countries to boycott the [[1984 Summer Olympics]] in [[Los Angeles]]. At the [[United Nations General Assembly]], he denounced the [[United States invasion of Grenada|invasion of Grenada by the United States]]. The U.S. responded by implementing trade sanctions against Burkina Faso. Also at the UN, Sankara called for an end to the veto power granted to the great powers. In the name of the 'right of peoples to sovereignty', he supported the national demands of the [[Western Sahara]], [[Palestine]], the Nicaraguan [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinistas]], and the South African [[African National Congress|ANC]].

While he had good relations with Ghanaian leader [[Jerry Rawlings]] and Libyan leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]], Sankara was relatively isolated in West Africa. Leaders close to France, such as [[Félix Houphouët-Boigny]] in [[Ivory Coast]] and [[Hassan II of Morocco|Hassan II]] in [[Morocco]], were particularly hostile to him.<ref>Amzat Boukari-Yabara, ''Africa Unite ! : Une histoire du panafricanisme,'' Paris: La Découverte, 2014</ref>

===Criticism===
The British development organization [[Oxfam]] recorded the arrest of trade union leaders in 1987.<ref>{{cite book|first=R.|last=Sharp|title=Burkina Faso: New Life for the Sahel? A Report for Oxfam|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxfam]]|date=1987|pages=13}}</ref> In 1984, seven individuals associated with the previous régime in Burkina Faso were accused of treason and executed after a summary trial. Non-governmental organizations and unions were harassed or placed under the authority of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, branches of which were established in each workplace and which functioned as 'organs of political and social control'.<ref>{{cite book|first=R.|last=Otayek|chapter=The Revolutionary Process in Burkina Faso: Breaks and Continuities|editor-first1=J.|editor-last1=Markakis|editor-first2=M.|editor-last2=Waller|title=Military Marxist Régimes in Africa|location=London|publisher=Frank Cass|date=1986|pages=95}}</ref>

Three days after Sankara had assumed power in 1983 through the popular revolution, the National Union of African Teachers of Upper Volta (SNEAHV) called Sankara and his government [[Fascism|fascist]] and called upon workers to be ready to fight for their freedom. As a result, the government ordered the arrest of four key figures of the SNEAHV, one was released shortly after. In response, the SNEAHV called upon a national teachers' strike to protest the arrests. The government saw this as something that endangered the politically weak Upper Volta which had already faced five coups since its independence. Therefore, the minister for National Education called upon directors of [[private school]]s "not to use the services of the strikers in their establishments".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Interim Report - Report No 236, November 1984|url=https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:50002:0::NO:50002:P50002_COMPLAINT_TEXT_ID:2901203|access-date=3 April 2024|website=International Labour Organisation}}</ref> The call affected 1300-1500 teachers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Impressions on the movement for global justice in Africa - International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine|url=https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1032|access-date=2024-04-03|website=internationalviewpoint.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The 1983 putsch installs Thomas Sankara and a historical Revolution with committees in defense of the revolution (CDR) and popular tribunals (TDR) begins.|url=https://www.blaisecompaore.com/en/political-and-military-career/1983-1987-the-revolution/|access-date=2024-04-03|website=Blaise Compaore|language=en-GB}}</ref>

[[Popular Revolutionary Tribunal]]s, set up by the government throughout the country, placed defendants on trial for corruption, tax evasion or 'counter-revolutionary' activity. Procedures in these trials, especially legal protections for the accused, did not conform to international standards. According to Christian Morrisson and Jean-Paul Azam of the [[OECD|Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]], the 'climate of urgency and drastic action in which many punishments were carried out immediately against those who had the misfortune to be found guilty of unrevolutionary behaviour, bore some resemblance to what occurred in the worst days of the [[French Revolution]], during the [[Reign of Terror]]. Although few people were killed, violence was widespread'.<ref>{{cite book|first1=C.|last1=Morrisson|first2=J.-P.|last2=Azam|title=Conflict and Growth in Africa|volume=I: 'The Sahel'|location=Paris|publisher=[[OECD]]|year=1999|page=70}}</ref>

==Death==
{{further|1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état}}
On 15 October 1987, Sankara and twelve other officials were killed in a [[1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état|coup d'état]] organized by his former colleague [[Blaise Compaoré]]. When accounting for his overthrow, Compaoré stated that Sankara jeopardized foreign relations with former colonial power France and neighbouring Ivory Coast, and accused his former comrade of plotting to assassinate opponents.<ref name="ReutersChe"/>

[[Prince Johnson]], a former Liberian warlord allied to [[Charles Taylor (Liberian politician)|Charles Taylor]] and killer of the Liberian president [[Samuel Doe]] whose last hours of life were filmed, told Liberia's [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Liberia)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] that it was engineered by Charles Taylor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-08-27-us-freed-taylor-to-overthrow-doe-liberias-trc-hears|title=US freed Taylor to overthrow Doe, Liberia's TRC hears|work=The M&G Online|date=27 August 2008|access-date=15 October 2014}}</ref> After the coup and although Sankara was known to be dead, some CDRs mounted an armed resistance to the army for several days.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ake|first=Claude|date=2001|title=Democracy and Development in Africa|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[Brookings Institution|Brookings Institution Press]]|page=95|isbn=081-572-348-2}}<!--|access-date=31 October 2014--></ref>

According to Halouna Traoré, the sole survivor of Sankara's assassination, Sankara was attending a meeting with the Conseil de l'Entente.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jaffre|first=Bruno|title=A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara|date=2018|publisher=[[Pluto Press]]|isbn=978-0-7453-3757-9|pages=96|doi=10.2307/j.ctt21kk235|jstor=j.ctt21kk235}}</ref> His assassins singled out Sankara and executed him. The assassins then shot at those attending the meeting, killing 12 other people. Sankara's body was riddled with bullets to the back<ref>{{cite news|date=13 October 2015|title=Sankara remains: Burkina Faso late leader 'riddled with bullets'|language=en-GB|work=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34522403|access-date=2 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=13 October 2015|title=Apparent remains of Burkina Faso's ex-leader Sankara 'riddled with bullets', says lawyer|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20151013-burkina-faso-thomas-sankara-supposed-remains-riddled-bullets|access-date=2 January 2021|website=[[France 24]]|language=en}}</ref> and he was quickly buried in an unmarked grave while his widow [[Mariam Sankara|Mariam]] and two children fled the nation.<ref name="CCIL">{{cite web|url=http://www.ccil-ccdi.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=225&Itemid=76|title=Sankara v. Burkina Faso|author=[[Canadian Council on International Law]]|date=March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930045320/http://www.ccil-ccdi.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=225&Itemid=76|archive-date=30 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Compaoré immediately reversed the [[nationalization]]s, overturned nearly all of Sankara's policies, rejoined the [[International Monetary Fund]] and [[World Bank]] to bring in 'desperately needed' funds to restore the 'shattered' economy<ref>{{cite book|title=Burkina Faso, 2nd|last1=Mason|first1=Katrina|last2=Knight|first2=James|year=2011|publisher=The Globe Pequot Press Inc.|page=31|isbn=9781841623528}}</ref> and ultimately spurned most of Sankara's legacy. Compaoré's dictatorship remained in power for 27 years until it was [[2014 Burkina Faso uprising|overthrown by popular protests in 2014]].<ref>{{cite web|title=People in Burkina Faso are taking to the streets to protest their 'president for life'|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-10-29/people-burkina-faso-are-taking-streets-protest-their-president-life|access-date=2 January 2021|website=The World from PRX|date=29 October 2014|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=28 October 2014|title=Huge Burkina Faso march against President Compaore|language=en-GB|work=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29804216|access-date=2 January 2021}}</ref>

===Trial===
In 2017, the Burkina Faso government officially asked the French government to release military documents on the killing of Sankara after his widow accused France of masterminding his assassination.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37643926|title=Burkina Faso 'wants France to release Sankara archives'|date=13 October 2016|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=25 February 2021}}</ref> The [[President of France|French president]] [[Emmanuel Macron]] promised to declassify French documents concerning Sankara's assassination.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 October 2020 |title=Sankara case referred to Burkina Faso court 33 years after his assassination |url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20201015-sankara-case-referred-to-burkina-faso-court-33-years-after-his-assassination |access-date=28 May 2025 |website=rfi}}</ref>

In April 2021, 34 years after Sankara's assassination, former president Compaoré and 13 others were indicted for complicity in the murder of Sankara as well as other crimes in the coup.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Akinwotu|first1=Emmanuel|title=Burkina Faso ex-president Compaoré to face trial over Thomas Sankara murder|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/13/trial-in-absentia-burkina-faso-ex-president-blaise-compaore|website=The Guardian|date=13 April 2021|access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> This development came as part of President [[Roch Marc Christian Kaboré]]'s framework of 'national reconciliation'.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Diallo|first1=Aïssatou|title=Can former president Compaoré's trial help to reconcile Burkina Faso?|url=https://www.theafricareport.com/81752/can-former-president-compaores-trial-help-to-reconcile-burkina-faso/|website=Theafricareport|date=22 April 2021|access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref>

In October 2021, the trial against Compaoré and 13 others began in [[Ouagadougou]], with Compaoré being tried ''[[Trial in absentia|in absentia]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Burkina Faso opens trial on 1987 Sankara assassination|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/11/burkina-faso-to-open-trial-on-1987-sankara-assassination|access-date=11 October 2021|agency=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]]|date=11 October 2021}}</ref> Ex-presidential security chief Hyacinthe Kafondo, was also tried in absentia.<ref>{{cite news|title=Trial over killing of Burkina Faso's ex-leader Sankara opens|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/trial-over-killing-of-burkina-fasos-ex-leader-sankara-opens/2389235|work=Anadolu Agency|date=11 October 2021}}</ref> A week before the trial, Compaoré's lawyers stated that he wouldn't be attending the trial which they characterized as having defects, and also emphasized his privilege for immunity, being the former head of state.<ref>{{cite news|title=Burkina Faso: Trial to know who killed Thomas Sankara opens|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/after-34-years-sankara-murder-trial-begins-burkina-faso-2021-10-11/|work=Africanews|date=11 October 2021}}</ref> After requests made by the defence attorneys for more time to prepare their defence, the hearing was postponed until 1 March.<ref>{{cite news|title=Burkinabe prosecutors seek 30 years for Compaore in murder trial|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/8/burkina-seeks-30-years-for-compaore-over-sankara-murder#:~:text=Military%20prosecutors%20in%20Burkina%20Faso,%E2%80%9Ccomplicity%20in%20a%20murder%E2%80%9D|work=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]]|date=8 February 2022}}</ref>

On 6 April 2022, Compaoré and two others were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in absentia. Eight others were sentenced to between 3 and 20 years in prison. Three were found innocent.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ndiaga|first=Thiam|date=6 April 2022|title=Burkina Faso's ex-president Compaore handed life sentence in absentia over Sankara murder|language=en|work=[[Reuters]]|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/burkina-fasos-former-president-compaore-sentenced-life-prison-over-sankara-2022-04-06/|access-date=16 April 2022}}</ref>

==Exhumation==
The exhumation of what are believed to be the remains of Sankara started on [[Africa Day|African Liberation Day]], 25 May 2015. Permission for an exhumation was denied during the rule of his successor, Blaise Compaoré.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32875048|title=Thomas Sankara remains: Burkina Faso begins exhumation|date=25 May 2015|website=[[BBC News]]|access-date=31 May 2016}}</ref> The exhumation would allow the family to formally identify the remains, a long-standing demand of his family and supporters.

In October 2015, one of the lawyers for Sankara's widow Mariam reported that the autopsy revealed that Sankara's body was 'riddled' with 'more than a dozen' bullets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/thomas-sankara-body-africas-che-guevara-riddled-bullets-autopsy-reveals-three-decades-after-1523905|title=Thomas Sankara: Body of Africa's Che Guevara riddled with bullets, autopsy reveals three decades after death|last=Iaccino|first=Ludovica|date=14 October 2015|website=International Business Times UK|access-date=31 May 2016}}</ref>

In 2025, Sankara and those killed alongside him in the 1987 coup were reinterred in a mausoleum built on the site of the Conseil de l’Entente in Ouagadougou.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.africanews.com/2025/05/19/thomas-sankaras-mausoleum-opens-to-honor-revolutionary-leader/ |title=Thomas Sankara's mausoleum opens to honor revolutionary leader |date=19 May 2025 |website=Africanews |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Coat of arms of Burkina Faso 1984-1991.svg|thumb|The [[coat of arms of Burkina Faso]] under Sankara from 1984 to 1987, featuring a crossed [[mattock]] and [[AK-47]] (an allusion to the [[hammer and sickle]]) with the motto {{lang|fr|La Patrie ou la Mort, nous vaincrons}} ('Fatherland or death, we will win'). A mattock and AK-47 are also featured on the [[Emblem of Mozambique|Coat of arms of Mozambique]], while the motto below the arms is also the current motto of Cuba, although in Spanish.]]
Accompanying his personal charisma, Sankara had an array of original initiatives that contributed to his popularity and brought some international media attention to his government.

===Solidarity===
*He sold off the government fleet of [[Mercedes-Benz|Mercedes]] cars and made the [[Renault 5]] (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers.<ref name=":8"/><ref>{{cite news|last=Harden|first=Blaine|date=1987|title=LEADER OF BURKINA FASO REPORTEDLY OVERTHROWN|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/10/16/leader-of-burkina-faso-reportedly-overthrown/55d55840-c1fb-421a-91db-52136e27da6a/}}</ref>
*He reduced the salaries of well-off public servants (including his own) and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and first class airline tickets.<ref name=":8"/><ref name=":11">{{cite web|title=Remembering Thomas Sankara, the African Che|url=https://thewire.in/external-affairs/remembering-thomas-sankara-the-african-che|access-date=1 January 2021|website=thewire.in}}</ref>
*He opposed foreign [[aid]], saying that 'He who feeds you, controls you'.<ref>{{cite web|title=26 years after Thomas Sankara: A graveside reflection {{!}} Pambazuka News|url=https://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/26-years-after-thomas-sankara-graveside-reflection|access-date=31 December 2020|website=www.pambazuka.org|date=5 March 2016|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":8"/>
*He spoke in forums like the [[Organisation of African Unity]] against what he described as [[Neocolonialism|neocolonialist]] penetration of Africa through Western trade and finance.<ref>{{cite news|title=Thomas Sankara, the upright revolutionary|url=https://www.dw.com/en/thomas-sankara-the-upright-revolutionary/a-43454171|access-date=31 December 2020|work=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{cite web|title=A United Front Against the Debt|url=http://www.documenta14.de/en/south/37_a_united_front_against_the_debt|access-date=1 January 2021|website=www.documenta14.de|language=en}}</ref>
*He called for a united front of African nations to repudiate their [[external debt]]. He argued that the poor and exploited did not have an obligation to repay money to the rich and exploiting.<ref name=":10"/>
{{quote box|quote=Thomas knew how to show his people that they could become dignified and proud through will power, courage, honesty and work. What remains above all of my husband is his integrity.|source=— [[Mariam Sankara]], Thomas' widow<ref name="ReutersChe"/>|width=25%|align=right}}
*In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army's provisioning store into a [[state-owned supermarket]] open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country).<ref name="ReutersChe"/>
*He forced well-off civil servants to pay one month's salary to public projects.<ref name="ReutersChe"/><ref name=":11"/>
*He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabés.<ref name="Grila">{{Better source needed|date=May 2020}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.zcommunications.org/commemorating-thomas-sankara-by-farid-omar|title=Commemorating Thomas Sankara|first=Farid|last=Omar|publisher=Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA)|date=28 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124093433/http://www.zcommunications.org/commemorating-thomas-sankara-by-farid-omar|archive-date=24 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{cite web|title=Remembering Thomas Sankara on the 30th anniversary of his assassination {{!}} Pambazuka News|url=https://www.pambazuka.org/democracy-governance/remembering-thomas-sankara-30th-anniversary-his-assassination|access-date=1 January 2021|website=www.pambazuka.org|date=19 October 2017|language=en}}</ref>
*As President, he lowered his salary to $450 a month<ref name=":8"/> and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a refrigerator, and a broken freezer.{{Citation needed|reason=this line has been repeated across the internet but no original source can be found|date=November 2023}}

===Style===
*He required public servants to wear a traditional tunic, woven from Burkinabé cotton and sewn by Burkinabé craftsmen.<ref name="UprightDVD"/>
*He was known for jogging unaccompanied through [[Ouagadougou]] in his track suit and posing in his tailored military fatigues, with his mother-of-pearl pistol.<ref name="ReutersChe"/><ref name=":9">{{cite web|last=Keita|first=Mohamed|title=Why Burkina Faso's late revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara still inspires young Africans|url=https://qz.com/africa/415257/why-burkina-fasos-late-revolutionary-leader-thomas-sankara-still-inspires-young-africans/|access-date=31 December 2020|website=Quartz Africa|date=June 2015|language=en}}</ref>
*When asked why he did not want his portrait hung in public places, as was the norm for other African leaders, Sankara replied: "There are seven million Thomas Sankaras".<ref>{{cite book|last=Katongole|first=Emmanuel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1AY2dF3uyMC&pg=PA89|title=The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theology for Africa|date=2011|publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]]|isbn=978-0-8028-6268-6|pages=89|language=en}}</ref>
*An accomplished guitarist, he wrote the new national anthem himself.<ref name="ReutersChe"/>

[[File:Pionniers de la révolution.jpg|thumb|left|[[Pioneers of the Revolution]]]]

===Burkina Faso===
A statue of Sankara was unveiled in 2019 at the location in Ouagadougou where he was assassinated; however due to complaints that it did not match his facial features, a new statue was unveiled a year later.<ref>{{cite web|last=Chutel|first=Lynsey|title=Burkina Faso is restoring Thomas Sankara's legacy with a bronze statue|url=https://qz.com/africa/1564590/thomas-sankara-statue-unveiled-in-burkina-faso/|access-date=31 December 2020|website=Quartz Africa|date=4 March 2019|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=18 May 2020|title=Burkina Faso unveils 'corrected' Thomas Sankara statue|language=en-GB|work=[[BBC]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52704979|access-date=31 December 2020}}</ref>

In 2023, the government of Burkina Faso formally proclaimed Sankara as a "hero of the nation".<ref>{{cite news|date=5 October 2023|title=Burkina Faso: former president Thomas Sankara elevated to the rank of "national hero"|language=en-GB|work=[[Africanews]]|url=https://www.africanews.com/2023/10/05/burkina-faso-former-president-thomas-sankara-elevated-to-the-rank-of-national-hero/|access-date=5 October 2023}}</ref>

In October 2023, on the 36th anniversary of his assassination, the government changed a main road name in [[Ouagadougou]] to honor Sankara. The road in question was the Boulevard Charles de Gaulle, now known as Boulevard Capitaine Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.africanews.com/2023/10/16/burkina-faso-names-boulevard-after-thomas-sankara-on-36th-anniversary-of-his-assassination//|title=Burkina Faso names boulevard after Thomas Sankara on anniversary of his assassination|date=16 October 2023}}</ref>

===International recognition===
[[Cuba]] awarded Sankara with the highest honour of the state, the [[Order of José Martí]].<ref>Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary by Ernest Harsh page 1985</ref>

Twenty years after his assassination, Sankara was commemorated on 15 October 2007 in ceremonies that took place in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Niger, Tanzania, Burundi, France, Canada and the United States.{{sfn|Kasuka|2012|p=303}}

====Africa's Che Guevara====
Sankara is often referred to as "Africa's [[Che Guevara]]".<ref name="ReutersChe"/><ref>[https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20230223-thomas-sankara-africa-s-che-guevara-reburied-in-burkina-faso Thomas Sankara, ‘Africa’s Che Guevara’, reburied in Burkina Faso]</ref> Sankara gave a speech marking and honouring the 20th anniversary of Che Guevara's 9 October 1967 execution, one week before his own assassination on 15 October 1987.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/51193/print|title=Sankara 20 years Later: A Tribute to Integrity|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308062953/http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/51193/print|archive-date=8 March 2012|first=Demba Moussa|last=Dembélé|website=Pambazuka News|date=15 October 2008}}</ref>

==List of works==
*''Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983–87'', [[Pathfinder tendency|Pathfinder Press]]: 1988. {{ISBN|0-87348-527-0}}.
*''We Are the Heirs of the World's Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso Revolution 1983–87'', Pathfinder Press: 2007. {{ISBN|0-87348-989-6}}.
*''Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle'', Pathfinder Press: 1990. {{ISBN|0-87348-585-8}}.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Englebert|first=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Englebert|
title=Burkina Faso: Unsteady Statehood In West Africa|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=New York|date=2018|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kwHFDwAAQBAJ|isbn=9780429970481}}
*{{cite book|last=Harsch|first=Ernest|title=Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary|publisher=[[Ohio University Press]]|edition=illustrated, reprint|date=2014|location=Athens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGDGBAAAQBAJ|isbn=9780821445075}}
*{{cite book|last=Imperato|first=Pascal James|author-link=Pascal James Imperato|title=Mali: A Search For Direction|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=2019|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kiqNDwAAQBAJ|isbn=9780429718106}}
*{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Segun|title=Burkina-Mali War: Is Nigeria Still a Regional Power|journal=India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs|volume=42|issue=3|pages=294–308|date=1 July 1986|doi=10.1177/097492848604200306|s2cid=154699898}}
*{{cite book|last=Kasuka|first=Bridgette|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ragu4v8r--4C|title=Prominent African Leaders Since Independence|date=2012|publisher=Bankole Kamara Taylor|isbn=978-1-4700-4358-2|location=|language=en}}
*{{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Guy|title=African Political Thought|date=2012|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-137-06205-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqYEhtONIBgC|language=en}}
*{{cite book|editor-last=Murrey|editor-first=Amber|title=A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara|publisher=[[Pluto Press]]|edition=first|date=2018|location=London|isbn=9780745337586|doi=10.2307/j.ctt21kk235|jstor=j.ctt21kk235|others=Afterword by Aziz Salmone Fall}}
*{{cite journal|last=Naldi|first=Gino J.|title=Case concerning the Frontier Dispute between Burkina Faso and Mali: Provisional Measures of Protection|journal=The International and Comparative Law Quarterly|volume=35|issue=4|pages=970–975|date=October 1986|doi=10.1093/iclqaj/35.4.970|jstor=759886}}
*{{cite book|last1=Peterson|first1=Brian James|title=Thomas Sankara: a revolutionary in Cold War Africa|date=2021|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=9780253053763}}
*{{cite book|last1=Rupley|first1=Lawrence|last2=Bangali|first2=Lamissa|last3=Diamitani|first3=Boureima|title=Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso|location=Lanham|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|edition=revised|date=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnRbA-pYcegC|isbn=9780810867703}}
*{{citation|last=Salliot|first=Emmanuel|title=A review of past security events in the Sahel 1967–2007|series=Security Implications of Climate Change in the Sahel Region|publisher=[[Sahel and West Africa Club]] Secretariat|date=2010|url=http://www.oecd.org/swac/publications/47092939.pdf}}
*{{cite book|author-last=Sankara|author-first=Thomas|title=Thomas Sankara Speaks: the Burkina Faso Revolution: 1983–87|author-link=Thomas Sankara|editor-first=Michel|editor-last=Prairie|publisher=Pathfinder|date=2007}}
*{{cite book|last=Uwechue|first=Raph|author-link=Raph Uwechue|title=Africa Today|publisher=Africa Books Limited|edition=second|date=1991|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SlFEAQAAIAAJ|isbn=9780903274166}}

==Further reading==
===Books===
====Monographs====
*''Who killed Sankara?'', by Alfred Cudjoe, 1988, University of California, {{ISBN|9964-90-354-5}}.
*''La voce nel deserto'', by Vittorio Martinelli and Sofia Massai, 2009, Zona Editrice, {{ISBN|978-88-6438-001-8}}.
*''Thomas Sankara – An African Revolutionary'', by Ernest Harsch, 2014, Ohio University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8214-4507-5}}.
*''A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara (Black Critique)'', by Amber Murrey, 2018, Pluto Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7453-3758-6}}.
*''Sankara, Compaoré et la révolution burkinabè'', by [[Ludo Martens]] and Hilde Meesters, 1989, Editions Aden, {{ISBN|9782872620333}}.
*''Military Marxism: Africa's Contribution to Revolutionary Theory, 1957-2023'', by Adam Mayer, 2025, Lexington Books, Lanham.

====Historical novel including Thomas Sankara====
*''American Spy'', by Lauren Wilkinson, 2019, Random House, {{ISBN|978-0812998955}}.

===Web articles===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612085544/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=555 ''Burkina Faso's Pure President''] by Bruno Jaffré.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612085035/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=418 ''Thomas Sankara Lives!''] by Mukoma Wa Ngugi.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612084729/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=420 ''There Are Seven Million Sankaras''] by Koni Benson.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612090018/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=202 ''Thomas Sankara: "I have a Dream"''] by Federico Bastiani.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612084545/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=526 ''Thomas Sankara: Chronicle of an Organised Tragedy''] by Cheriff M. Sy.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120301145933/http://www.thomassankara.net/spip.php?article769&lang=en ''Thomas Sankara Former Leader of Burkina Faso''] by Désiré-Joseph Katihabwa.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612084901/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=668 ''Thomas Sankara 20 Years Later: A Tribute to Integrity''] by Demba Moussa Dembélé.
*[http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-11-05-remembering-thomas-sankara-the-effs-muse/ Remembering Thomas Sankara], Rebecca Davis, ''The Daily Maverick'', 2013.
*[http://www.redpepper.org.uk/i-can-hear-the-roar-of-womens-silence/ "I can hear the roar of women's silence"], Sokarie Ekine, ''Red Pepper'', 2012.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612023830/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=902 ''Thomas Sankara: A View of The Future for Africa and The Third World''] by Ameth Lo.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612084128/http://thomassankara.net/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=269 ''Thomas Sankara on the Emancipation of Women, An internationalist whose ideas live on!''] by Nathi Mthethwa.
*[http://fasotour.fr/thomas-sankara/ ''Thomas Sankara, le Che africain''] by Pierre Venuat (in French).
*[http://www.arsp.it/2017/10/19/thomas-sankara-e-la-rivoluzione-interrotta/ ''Thomas Sankara e la rivoluzione interrotta''] by Enrico Palumbo (in Italian).

==External links==
{{sister project links||d=Q202155|c=Category:Thomas Sankara|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}}
{{Prone to spam|date=November 2014}}
*[https://www.thomassankara.net/?lang=en ThomasSankara.net], a website dedicated to Thomas Sankara
*{{Marxists.org|sankara|Thomas Sankara}}
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{{succession box|before=[[Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo]]|title=[[List of heads of state of Burkina Faso|President of Upper Volta (Burkina Faso)]]|years=1983–1987|after=[[Blaise Compaoré]]}}
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