Families of Thomas Sankara and his companions slain almost 36 years ago had expressed misgivings about burying the murdered revolutonaries at the Council of the Entente in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou.
The burial of his remains and those of his twelve companions assassinated on October 15, 1987 takes place on Thursday February 23, 2023, according to a government statement on national television.
Government spokesperson, Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo said that the choice of the site “is mainly based on socio-cultural and security imperatives of a national interest”.
He specified that “the ceremony will take place according to customary and religious rites in the strict privacy of the families of the deceased” and that it is therefore not open to the public.
The government said it was encouraging the population to meditate in order to honor the memory of Sankara and his companions who are considered as martyrs, pending the solemn tribute ceremony, scheduled for October 15, 2023.
The government has finally settled the question of choice of the ideal site for the reburial of the remains of Mr Thomas Sankara and his companions.
Families of the deceased were opposed to idea of the Council of the Entente as their burial site, evoking “painful memories” of how they were killed.
The Sankara family had requested a “Presidential pardon so that the remains of President Thomas Sankara are not reinterred at the Council of the Entente”.
DS/ac/as/APA