The assassination of Thomas Sankara
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
In October 1987, one of Africa's most radical leaders, Captain Thomas Sankara, was gunned down in a coup in Burkina Faso.
His overthrow was orchestrated by his old friend, Blaise Compaore.
Thomas Sankara's brother, Paul, spoke to Alex Last in 2013.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
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(Photo: Thomas Sankara at the international press conference in Paris 1986. Credit: Langevin Jacques/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:16.0 | Today we're going back to Burkina Faso in 1987, when one of Africa's most famous radical leaders, |
| 0:22.8 | Captain Thomas Sankara, was gunned down in a coup in the capital Waghadougou. |
| 0:28.1 | His assassination was orchestrated by his old friend Blaise Campauré. |
| 0:32.8 | Thomas Sankara's brother Paul told Alex last in 2013 |
| 0:36.2 | about the moment he heard gunfire. |
| 0:41.2 | I was at the airport. I heard the first shots. And I even saw military trucks in the movement, |
| 0:49.3 | back and forth. From everywhere in Waghadougu, in the city, you can hear the gunshot. |
| 0:55.0 | Paul Sankara, a trainee pilot, is Thomas Sankara's younger brother. |
| 1:00.0 | So I was wondering what it is. |
| 1:02.4 | I just grabbed my motorcycle to the palace and see what's going on. |
| 1:06.9 | I saw some militaries. |
| 1:08.4 | And then I just end up at my parents' house, and then I heard a radio. |
| 1:14.4 | The radio announced that Thomas Sankara had been overthrown. |
| 1:18.0 | The communique was signed by Thomas's old best friend, and number two in the government, Blaze Compowery. |
| 1:24.9 | Some were crying, others just didn't believe it. A plot from Blair's Comparre against Thomas. |
| 1:32.3 | Everybody was saying, okay, I hope Thomas is still alive. |
| 1:37.1 | Personally, I didn't think that he would be alive because they knew that how popular was Thomas. |
| 1:43.4 | The next morning, the family was told he had been killed. |
| 1:47.2 | His body buried in a makeshift grave, |
| 1:49.9 | marked by a piece of paper in a cemetery on the outskirts of town. |
... |
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