1. At the age of 33, Thomas Sankara became the President of the Republic of Upper Volta and launched an unprecedented series of social, ecological, and economic reforms.
51 Facts About Thomas Sankara
1. 2.
In 1984, Thomas Sankara oversaw the renaming of the country as Burkina Faso, and personally wrote its national anthem.
3.
Thomas Sankara's government focused on building schools, health centres, water reservoirs, and infrastructure projects.
4.
Thomas Sankara reinforced his populist image by ordering the sale of luxury vehicles and properties owned by the government in order to reduce costs.
5.
Thomas Sankara established Cuban-inspired Committees for the Defence of the Revolution to serve as a new foundation of society and promote popular mobilization.
6.
On 15 October 1987, Thomas Sankara was assassinated by troops led by Blaise Compaore, who assumed leadership of the country shortly thereafter.
7.
Thomas Sankara was born Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara on 21 December 1949 in Yako, French Upper Volta, as the third of ten children to Joseph and Marguerite Sankara.
8.
Thomas Sankara spent his early years in Gaoua, a town in the humid southwest to which his father was transferred as an auxiliary gendarme.
9.
Thomas Sankara applied himself seriously to his schoolwork and excelled in mathematics and French.
10.
Thomas Sankara went to church often and, impressed with his energy and eagerness to learn, some of the priests encouraged Thomas to go on to seminary school once he finished primary school.
11.
Thomas Sankara left his father's household to attend the lycee in Bobo-Dioulasso, the country's commercial centre.
12.
Thomas Sankara entered the military academy of Kadiogo in Ouagadougou with the academy's first intake of 1966 at the age of 17.
13.
Thomas Sankara invited a few of his brightest and more political students, among them Sankara, to join informal discussions outside the classroom about imperialism, neocolonialism, socialism and communism, the Soviet and Chinese revolutions, the liberation movements in Africa, and similar topics.
14.
In 1970,20-year-old Thomas Sankara went for further military studies at the military academy of Antsirabe in Madagascar, from which he graduated as a junior officer in 1973.
15.
Thomas Sankara took up these issues in his own administration and country.
16.
Thomas Sankara became a popular figure in the capital of Ouagadougou.
17.
Thomas Sankara played in a band named Tout-a-Coup Jazz and rode a bicycle.
18.
Thomas Sankara was appointed Minister of Information in Saye Zerbo's military government in September 1981.
19.
Thomas Sankara differentiated himself from other government officials in many ways such as biking to work everyday, instead of driving in a car.
20.
Thomas Sankara was arrested after the French President's African affairs adviser, Guy Penne, met with Col.
21.
The decision to arrest Thomas Sankara proved to be very unpopular with the younger officers in the military regime.
22.
Thomas Sankara's imprisonment created enough momentum for his friend Blaise Compaore to lead another coup.
23.
Thomas Sankara identified as a revolutionary and was inspired by the examples of Cuba's Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, and Ghana's military leader Jerry Rawlings.
24.
Thomas Sankara's policy was oriented toward fighting corruption and promoting reforestation.
25.
Thomas Sankara gave it a new flag and wrote a new national anthem.
26.
Thomas Sankara launched a mass vaccination program aimed at eradicating polio, meningitis, and measles.
27.
Thomas Sankara's administration was the first African government to publicly recognize the AIDS epidemic as a major threat to Africa, showcasing his forward-thinking approach to public health.
28.
Thomas Sankara established brick factories to help build houses and reduce urban slums.
29.
Thomas Sankara's administration connected all regions of the country through an extensive road and rail-building program.
30.
Thomas Sankara's administration implemented successful education programs, resulting in significant improvements in literacy.
31.
Thomas Sankara engaged in three major battles: against bush fires, 'which will be considered as crimes and will be punished as such'; against cattle roaming, 'which infringes on the rights of peoples because unattended animals destroy nature'; and against the chaotic cutting of firewood, 'whose profession will have to be organized and regulated'.
32.
Thomas Sankara thought of extending this vegetation belt to other countries.
33.
Shortly after attaining power, Thomas Sankara constructed a system of courts known as the Popular Revolutionary Tribunal.
34.
Thomas Sankara viewed this arrangement as an obstacle to national unity, and proceeded to demote the Mossi elite.
35.
Thomas Sankara had extensively worked for women's rights and declared "There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women".
36.
Thomas Sankara's government banned female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy, while appointing women to high governmental positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant.
37.
Thomas Sankara promoted contraception and in 1986 all restrictions on contraception were removed.
38.
Thomas Sankara established a Ministry of Family Development and the Union of Burkina Women.
39.
Thomas Sankara recognized the challenges faced by African women when he gave his famous address to mark International Women's Day on 8 March 1987 in Ouagadougou.
40.
Thomas Sankara personally disliked Malian President Moussa Traore, who had taken power by deposing Modibo Keita's left-leaning regime.
41.
At an ANAD summit in Yamoussoukro on 17 January 1987, Traore and Thomas Sankara met and formalized an agreement to end hostilities.
42.
At a rally held after the war, Thomas Sankara conceded that his country's military was not adequately armed and announced the commutation of sentences for numerous political prisoners.
43.
When President Francois Mitterrand visited Burkina Faso in November 1986, Thomas Sankara criticized the French for having received Pieter Botha, the Prime Minister of South Africa, which still enforced apartheid; and Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA, in France, referring to both men as 'covered in blood from head to toe'.
44.
Also at the UN, Thomas Sankara called for an end to the veto power granted to the great powers.
45.
Three days after Thomas Sankara had assumed power in 1983 through the popular revolution, the National Union of African Teachers of Upper Volta called Thomas Sankara and his government fascist and called upon workers to be ready to fight for their freedom.
46.
Thomas Sankara's body was riddled with bullets to the back and he was quickly buried in an unmarked grave while his widow Mariam and two children fled the nation.
47.
Compaore immediately reversed the nationalizations, overturned nearly all of Thomas Sankara's policies, rejoined the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to bring in 'desperately needed' funds to restore the 'shattered' economy and ultimately spurned most of Thomas Sankara's legacy.
48.
The exhumation of what are believed to be the remains of Thomas Sankara started on African Liberation Day, 25 May 2015.
49.
Thomas Sankara knew how to show his people that they could become dignified and proud through will power, courage, honesty and work.
50.
Twenty years after his assassination, Thomas Sankara was commemorated on 15 October 2007 in ceremonies that took place in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Niger, Tanzania, Burundi, France, Canada and the United States.
51.
Thomas Sankara gave a speech marking and honouring the 20th anniversary of Che Guevara's 9 October 1967 execution, one week before his own assassination on 15 October 1987.