Blaise Compaoré

Army faultlines go back to the 1980s when factions supporting Sankara found themselves battling followers of the man who replaced him Blaise Compaoré...

This was the time of the popular uprising that removed Blaise Compaoré...

The Ouagadougou regime's more conciliatory approach was also reflected in reconciliation talks last week that brought together former heads of state including Blaise Compaoré – allowed to come and go freely despite his recent conviction for involvement in the 1987 murder of Thomas Sankara...

Looking frail and disoriented Blaise Compaoré returned to Ouagadougou on 7 July for the first time since a popular revolt eight years ago swept him out of power and into exile in Côte d'Ivoire where he has been based ever since...

Those skills were on display on 8 April when a court in Ouagadougou convicted former military ruler Blaise Compaoré in absentia for his role in the 1987 assassination of the revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara (AC Vol 62 No 10 Sankara's ghost)...

It also houses the military prison which holds Gen Gilbert Diendéré the former right-hand man of ousted President Blaise Compaoré who was convicted of leading a coup attempt in 2015 (AC Vol 60 No 18 Putschists put away)...

The attack triggered the largest manifestation of public anger since October 2014 when then-President Blaise Compaoré's bid to stay in power ended in a popular uprising and his overthrow in a coup (AC Vol 55 No 22 The warning from Ouagadougou)...

Many attribute the insecurity to the dismantling of the intelligence network created by strongman President Blaise Compaoré deposed in a popular uprising in 2014 and the collapse of his regime's covert deals with militant Islamist leaders but that is academic now and Kaboré seems bereft of alternatives...

Another Abidjan resident Blaise Compaoré Burkina Faso's former autocrat is wanted by the Burkinabè authorities but the Ivorians are in no hurry to send him to Ouagadougou (AC Vol 62 No 10 Sankara's ghost)...

As President Roch Kaboré's government argues about the treatment of exiled former president Blaise Compaoré the military courts seem determined to throw the book at him...

Blaise Compaoré ousted by mass protests in 2014 after he sought a fifth term as president celebrated his 70th birthday on 3 February in his palatial villa in exile in Abidjan (AC Vol 55 No 22 Pressure mounts on Zida)...