Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) – The widow of Thomas Sankara, former military leader of Burkina Faso, has denied any deal with the new authorities on reopening the dossier of his death, following a statement by the country’s acting president, Michel Kafando, that efforts are being made to “help his family identify the body”.
“The family (of Thomas Sankara) insists in letting national and international media know that so far, it has not received any official contact and that actually no deal has been reached,” says a communiqué issued on Wednesday by Mariam Sankara.
Captain Sankara launched the Burkina Faso revolution on August 4, 1983 but he was assassinated in a coup that brought former Burkinabe president Blaise Compaoré to power on October 15 , 1987.
The Sankara family, since 1997 has been demanding the exhumation of the body of the national hero and icon of Pan-Africanism, to check if the body was his, but the former government turned it down.
The acting president has given the assurance that investigations will be opened to identify the body in a bid to satisfy the demand of legal proceedings.
The family of Captain Sankara “reaffirms its availability to discuss the modalities concerning the judicial case and the legal works it demands,” said the communiqué, adding that the advisors of the family would, in the next few days, hold a news conference to provide details on the matter.
