Turkey- Ex president's murder pinned on Burkina Faso coup leader
Date
12/7/2015 6:42:59 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) General Gilbert Diendere who led the failed coup last September in Burkina Faso has been charged with complicity in the assassination of former leader Thomas Sankara in 1987 an official source has revealed.
Diendere is already under arrest for the coup attempt he made last August.
A source at the National Transitional council confirmed the assassination charge against Diendere to Anadolu Agency late Sunday.
According to Burkinabe authorities Diendere had played a key role in Sankara's assassination on Oct. 15 1987.
In May Burkina Faso judicial authorities asked for the exhumation of Sankara's body in order to identify the circumstances of his assassination in 1987 during a coup that was led by former president Compaore.
Sankara came to power via a coup in 1983. His takeover led to the birth of the National Revolutionary Council which promised democratic and social reforms as well as an anti-imperialist foreign policy.
Following the coup the colonial-era name of the country Upper Volta was changed to Burkina Faso which in the country's indigenous language Moore means "Land of honest people".
In 1987 fierce clashes broke out between regime loyalists and rebels at Ouagadougou's presidential palace on what came to be known as "Black Thursday".
Thomas Sankara was later killed in the coup orchestrated by his Chief Adviser Blaise Compaore who later remained in power for 27 years.
Last August the presidential guard led by Gen. Diendere a former army chief of staff for Compaore stormed into a cabinet meeting and arrested transitional President Michel Kafando Prime Minister Yacouba Zida and a handful of other government ministers.
In October Diendere was charged with 11 criminal acts including threatening state security murder allying with foreign forces willful assault and destruction of property.
General elections were held in Burkina Faso on Nov. 29 2015.
Roch Marc Christian Kabore who was prime minister of Burkina Faso between 1994 and 1996 under the rule of former president Compaore won the presidential poll with over 53.49 percent votes.
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