The president of the transition in Burkina Faso, Paul-Henri Damiba, received a delegation from the Ivorian government on Tuesday 26 July. The delegation went down to Ouagadougou to deliver a letter from former Head of State Blaise Compaoré. In this letter, Blaise Compaoré expresses his regret for the suffering inflicted on the people during his reign and in particular the harm caused to the Sankara family.
A delegation composed of Mr. Ali Coulibaly, special adviser to Alassane Ouattara, and the daughter of former president Blaise Compaoré, Damila Compaoré, was received on Tuesday by President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. The message conveyed by the delegation seems to be more of a confession. Former President Blaise Compaoré acknowledges being the author of the suffering of the Burkinabe people during his term of office and asks for forgiveness for all his actions, in this case to the family of his “brother and friend” Thomas Sankara.
The admitted sin of Blaise Compaoré.
“I assume and deplore from the bottom of my heart all the suffering and drama experienced by all the victims during the time I spent at the head of Burkina Faso” Blaise Compaoré therefore asks that the pardon of all the victim families be granted to him.
Blaise Compaoré on the road to peace and unity.
Further on, the former Head of State urges much greater unity for the reconstruction of Burkina Faso. “I hope that we can now move forward to rebuild our common destiny in the land of our ancestors ”. Despite the weight of justice hanging over him, Blaise Compaoré took part on 8 July 2022 in the national reconciliation meeting in the face of the jihadist attacks that have plunged the country into mourning.
For the record, former president Blaise Compaoré took power after the 1987 coup that killed Thomas Sankara and several of his companions. On 6 April 2022, the man who had been in power for 27 years was found guilty and sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by his country’s justice system, even though he had been in exile in Ivory Coast since his resignation in 2014.
