Captain Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara

Traoré has decided to cloak himself in the style of a popular president – with more than a nod to Burkina's legendary leader Thomas Sankara also a mere captain when he took power in 1983...

Traoré speaks persuasively but he's no Thomas Sankara the legendary leader of the 1980s who started to transform the country fighting corruption and incompetence in the political class and the army...

A CAPTAIN IN SANKARA'S FOOTSTEPS Aged 34 Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power when he was just a year older than his role model and fellow captain Thomas Sankara who staged his coup in 1983 and changed the course of his nation's history (AC Vol 62 No 10 Sankara's ghost)...

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...

For most of this time Burkina Faso has pondered whether to imprison him for involvement in the murder of the national hero Thomas Sankara or allow him to return and fade away in a rural retreat (AC Vol 55 No 22 Pressure mounts on Zida)...

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)...

This has helped to reassure Ecowas and has allowed the resumption on solid legal grounds of the trial of those accused of killing President Thomas Sankara in 1987...

The revolutionary Capt Thomas Sankara staged his coup in 1983 and Compaoré took power for himself four years later...

He praised Thomas Sankara – the assassinated Burkinabè president who is celebrated as a hero throughout the continent – and told the students 'I am from a generation that doesn't come to tell Africans what to do...

On 13 April the Justice Militaire indicted Compaoré for involvement in the murder of his predecessor the ever-popular Thomas Sankara...

He has an arrest warrant pending for alleged involvement in the murder of his widely revered predecessor Thomas Sankara in 1987 and questions remain about the 10 people killed during attempts to suppress the demonstrations that led to Compaoré's ouster (AC Vol 46 No 24 Five years)...