Captain Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara

Born in 1957 into an influential banking family he was a supporter of Thomas Sankara's 1983 coup which ushered in the country's revolutionary phase but he also went along with Blaise Compaoré's 'rectification' four years later when Sankara was murdered...

His own role dates back to both the advent and the demise of the late President Thomas Sankara...

The other source of anxiety was the expected publication on 19 September of the results of a new autopsy on the body of Captain Thomas Sankara...

The most outspoken left-of-centre presidential candidate Stanislas Bénéwendé Sankara (not related to Thomas Sankara but one of the family's lawyers) condemned the coup as did Kaboré and the man who was to be his main rival Zéphirin Diabré...

A former communist who now calls himself a social-democrat he joined and then left the political alliance with Captain Thomas Sankara's revolutionary government (1984-87) just in time to get in with Compaoré when he was about to topple Sankara...

His Front progressiste sankariste is unlikely to carry the vote but many Burkinabè feel that the revolution was carried out in Thomas Sankara's name and Bénéwendé and the FPS may benefit at the elections which will be held four days before the 28th anniversary of Capt...

The first was the 26 November announcement that the enquiry would be reopened into the death of Captain Thomas Sankara killed in the 1987 counter-revolution...

Others such as the widow of murdered Burkinabè leader Thomas Sankara and human rights activists in Liberia would like to see Compaoré stand trial for murder and war crimes...

Army arrangementsLike his predecessors Compaoré and Thomas Sankara Zida trained at the Military Academy at Pô...

On 1 November Mariam Sankara the widow of Thomas Sankara who was believed to have been murdered by Compaoré during the October 1987 coup that brought him to power issued a statement from her French exile calling for the deposed Compaoré to be brought to justice (AC Vol 55 No 7 Tight spot for Blaise)...

Aside from corruption charges Compaoré is vulnerable to the accusation that he murdered his predecessor Captain Thomas Sankara whose widow Mariam Sankara still campaigns for justice from her exile in France...

For security Compaoré relies on the Special Chief-of-Staff Brigadier General Gilbert Diendéré a discreet but constant presence since Compaoré’s French-backed coup removed Captain Thomas Sankara from power in 1987 (AC Vol 41 No 23 Stuck in the sand)...

Compaoré needs somebody to protect him his family and his friends in case an ‘African spring’ should threaten his reign or worse lead to investigations into the murder of his predecessor Captain Thomas Sankara during the 1987 coup that brought Compaoré to power...