The end of Blaise?
Compaore has been the President of Burkina Faso since he himself came to power in the coup he staged twenty seven years ago against his former brother-in -arms, Thomas Sankara, the Che Guevara of West Africa- brilliant demagogue and hero of the downtrodden but ultimately a dangerous firebrand in the eyes of the West which welcomed Blaise and his coup with relief and has seen in him something of a pillar of stability- he has gained a of status of a respected elder statesman, taking on the role of mediator in the Malian crisis- a position which has always sat badly with the Malians who have never understood where Compaore has gained the right to lecture Mali on Democracy.
I travelled to Burkina for the first time in 2007 with Keita. I was curious about Thomas Sankara, and wanted to talk to people about him- but I quickly understood that it was a taboo subject. It has been clear to everyone for 27 years that Compaore has Sankara's blood on his hands, but no one has dared to speak. 'Will Blaise now be held responsible or taken to justice over Sankara's assassination?' asked someone on Malijet tonight.
Well, at the moment it is not quite clear whether he has been forced to leave power, the spokesman for the Army has not said so. But it is my guess he will not dare to hang on to power now in the face of the Burkina people's mass protest, and we have probably witnessed the end of Blaise Compaore's reign.
posted by toubab at 11:08 PM
2 Comments:
Extraordinary, as you say, that these old hands just won't give up, even now that he has so much blood on his hands. Heard a powerful speech from the opposition on the World Service last night.
I think that such old hands are in fact French Government puppets, they are maintained in power with the help of Paris who is still playing colonial master. As long as you are useful to Paris you can stay, it's a real cancer in Africa.
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