(NNPA)—The Sept. 17 coup against the interim president of Burkina Faso, Michel Kafando, contains important lessons regarding the struggle for justice and democracy. Under pressure from demonstrators, striking labor unions and the West Africa regional bloc, the coup leader, Gen. Gilbert Diendere, stepped aside and Kafando and Prime Minister Yacouba Issac Zida were restored to power as transitional leaders of the country formerly known as the Republic of Upper Volta.
The background to the September 17 coup can be traced to October 2014 when a popular uprising ousted long-time dictator Blaise Compaore, who had overthrown and murdered his former friend and comrade, the near legendary, Thomas Sankara in 1987. It reversed the revolutionary changes that the central African country of Burkina Faso had experienced under Sankara’s leadership.
Compaore returned Burkina Faso to its neo-colonial status under French and U.S. domination, and instituted a repressive dictatorship. In the fall of 2014, after an attempt to extend the length of his presidency, millions of people turned out in defiance of the government, ultimately driving Compaore not only out of office, but out of the country.
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