Pan-African leader Thomas Sankara, who was assassinated in Ouagadougou during a 1987 coup, was reburied on Thursday at the location of his assassination in what was considered a symbolic state funeral in honor of the late revolutionary and the 12 people that were killed with him.

Following the ousting of former President Blaise Compaore, Sankara's body was exhumed in 2015 as part of an investigation. Eight years later, Sankara and his friends were reburied, coffins wrapped in the Burkinabe flag, in a ceremony led by soldiers and community leaders.

The body of Burkina Faso revolutionary icon and pan-Africanist Thomas Sankara is to be reburied today alongside 12 comrades at the spot where they were assassinated in a coup on October 15, 1987. pic.twitter.com/JOGzk8e2nw

— African News feed. (@africansinnews) February 23, 2023

“Africa’s Che Guevara,” has not been forgotten, and his killer, Compaore, who now lives in Ivory Coast, was tried in absentia and convicted of complicity in the murder of Sankara and his comrades. Gilbert Diendere, the then-president's right hand, and former spy chief Tousma Yacinthe Kafando, alongside eight other individuals, were also convicted.

Burkina's youth resurrect Thomas Sankara's anti-colonial project

A special rapport published by Sputnik on January 28 revealed that the recent wave of political changes that have swept in Burkina Faso over the past year has marked an important shift in the political consciousness of Burkina's youth. 

In the past year alone, Burkina Faso has witnessed two separate military coups, the most recent yielded by Capitaine Ibrahim Traoré who rid the nation of his predecessor, Paul-Henri Damiba, a military officer who maintained close ties with France and is considered a traitor to the nation. 

Activists interviewed by the agency explained they actively supported changes that they regard as anti-colonial and anti-imperialist, an approach that is relevant considering recent warnings the West African nation has issued for French troops to leave the territory.

One of the activists, a filmmaker named Abdoul Salam Koussoube, told the agency that the political turmoil invoked the youth's radical demands for substantial political change.

"Recent events force us to revisit history, when this country experienced a progressive military regime that changed its destiny forever from 1983-1987. We dare to believe and hope that the current authorities are working in the same direction, even if it must be recognized that the mechanisms of oppression of imperialism do not make the task easy. Personally, my hope comes from the fact that it is the younger generation, especially those who are out of school and excluded from the system of governance, that are currently leading the revolt against Western influences as well as against local valets," he told Sputnik.

The African nation's history does not go unnoticed as its previous leaders, in particular Sankara, left an unprecedented mark in the history of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism. 

Thomas Sankara(1987)

from the documentary
“Concerning Violence”:https://t.co/CarZ1ZmdYB pic.twitter.com/XCeYW6kpWa

— darius. (@_dariussimpson) February 14, 2023

The African leader led a military coup in 1983 and introduced some of the continent's most progressive reforms, including mass vaccination programs which contributed to eradicating polio. He launched education programs to combat the nation's 90% illiteracy rate and initiated large-scale housing and infrastructure projects in efforts to end urban slums. 

Read more: France officially withdraws last military troops from Burkina Faso