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Mariam Sankara, widow of leader Thomas Sankara, sits in the courtroom where 14, including former President Blaise Compaore, stand trial for Sankara's murder, in a military court in Ougadougou
HOPES have been raised that a trial which opened in Burkina Faso today will “shed light” on what really happened to the country’s revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara.
He was shot dead on October 16 1987 in a military coup just four years after becoming the African country’s president.
Among the 14 defendants is his close friend Blaise Compaore, who came to power after Sankara’s killing and ruled for 27 years before being forced to resign in 2014 as mass protests swept the country.
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PRABHAT PATNAIK details the epochal shift of political power from Western neocolonialists to the people
ROGER McKENZIE explains how Ibrahim Traore has sparked the flames of hope across Africa, while the Western powers seek to extinguish all attempts to build true sovereignty in the long-exploited continent