OUAGADOUGOU (AFP) — Burkina Faso is set to be divided on Monday as it marks two paradoxical events: some will pay homage to a fallen hero and ex-leader Thomas Sankara while others celebrate the re-birth of democracy under his successor.
The charismatic captain Sankara and father of the west African nation's revolution was killed on October 15, 1987 in a coup which brought his former friend and comrade-in-arms, Blaise Compaore, to power.
Known as the "father of revolution", his name gets positioned among some of Africa's best known nationalists such as Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, Tanzania's Julius Nyerere and Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta.
But two decades after his death, his successor would care less to pay official homage to the renowned military captain who in his bid to sever ties with the colonial past renamed the former Upper Volta in August 1984 to Burkina Faso which means the "land of upright men" in native languages.
Instead the Compaore's administration has chosen to celebrate its 20 years in power with a series of countrywide street marches and an international symposium on "democracy and development in Africa" to which several heads of state have been invited.
"The conference will bring together friends of Burkina Faso, political figures, business community and intellectuals from the four corners of the world," said organiser Jean-Leonard Compaore.
A giant musical concert is planned for October 20 to cap the festivities.
Sankara's supporters meantime hold their own symposium in Ouagadougou, "to conceptualise Sankarism, to give it a consensus character" according Benewende Sankara, president of UNIR/MS, one of the main pro-Sankara movements in the country.
Sankara's followers however complain of difficulties finding a venue.
The authorities "denied us access to rooms in Ouagadougou, but we found two smaller privately leased rooms," Cherif Sy, one of the organisers, told AFP.
They plan a procession to the tomb of the ex-president and the 12 soldiers killed alongside him on October 15, 1987.
A Thomas Sankara caravan, which left Mexico in September passing through Europe, Senegal and Mali, is due in Ouagadougou on Sunday to celebrate the "new humanism" of Sankara.
A musical concert bringing together various artists, among them Senegalese rapper Didier Awadi, and fervent follower of Sankara will perform as part of the commemoration.
In a Monday editorial, the private daily L'Observateur Paalga denounced "the obstacles strewn around by pro-government supporters in the way of Sankara followers.
"A strange renaissance when some think that Burkina Faso belongs to them and that they can have the luxury to refuse their fellow citizens a small quiet corner to honour their departed," said the paper.
Even two decades after his death, the circumstances of the death of the man who still commands lots of respect among many Burkinabes are not clear and remain a taboo subject in the country.
Luc Marius Ibriga, a law professor of the university of Ouagadougou, said Sankara was "a charismatic man, a powerful orator with the outstanding ability to mobilise and an extraordinary vision".
He brags on about the man who is credited for his socialist revolution sought to dismantle the world's third most impoverished country's legacy of colonialism and economic dependence.
But in a recent interview with the French language weekly Jeune Afrique, Compaore said Sankara's revolution had limitations.
"When a movement is not accompanied by freedoms that does not work. It is better to live in today's Burkina Faso, even without the material difficulties, while enjoying freedom of press, opinion and association," said Compaore.
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