July - September 2015 •
The Lion King
• 31
Thomas Sankara
Notable personality
Photo by Rita Willaert
The Nazinga Natural Reserve
The former president of Burkina Faso
was an Anti-imperialist, Pan-Africanist
and Third Worldist. In power, he
changed the name of the country for-
merly called “Upper-Volta” to “Burkina
Faso” which means “Land of Upright
Man”. Thomas Sankara undertook the
political emancipation of the Burkina
population. His government engaged
in major reforms to fight corruption
and improve education, agriculture
and women’s status.
Thomas Sankara’s revolutionary pro-
grams for African self-reliance made
him an icon to many of Africa’s poor.
He was against colonialism and neo-
colonialism of western countries, espe-
cially from France in Africa. He was
one of the leaders of the last revolu-
tion of “Progressive Africa” opposed
to “Moderated Africa”. For some peo-
ple, he was the African Che Guevara.
He was killed during a military coup
which ushered Blaise Compaore to
power on October 15, 1987.
Burkina Faso |
Country Focus
