Burkina Faso: the Sankara memorial, a tourist site and a place of remembrance that is always full
The giant statue of Captain Thomas Sankara, at the memorial dedicated to him in Ouagadougou, the Burkinabè capital.
AFP - OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
A real tourist site, even a pilgrimage site since the installation of the giant statue of Thomas Sankara, the memorial welcomes hundreds of visitors every day in Ouagadougou.
Pupils, students, civil servants, nationals or expatriates come to find out who the man was and how he was assassinated on October 15, 1987 by Blaise Compaoré's guards.
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With our correspondent in Ouagadougou,
Yaya Boudani
More and more of them are going to the site of the Thomas Sankara memorial which, little by little, is becoming a place of pilgrimage.
Between 200 and 400 visitors are received each day on the site.
More than 35 years after his assassination, the memory of Thomas Sankara is still very powerful.
For many young people, the first visit to the memorial is the discovery of the giant statue of President Thomas Sankara.
“
We are happy to be here.
He left a long time ago, we weren't born, but he is in our hearts
, ”comments a visitor.
"
We're really happy to be here today
," adds another.
There are also those who come to understand what happened inside the Council of the Agreement on October 15, 1987, the day of the coup against Thomas Sankara.
Maï Nana has lived in France since 1984. For her second visit to the memorial, she is accompanied by her daughter.
“
I am coming with my daughter so that she can discover this country, we have a duty to take up these values, if we want our country to be built in peace, dignity, with respect for human beings.
»
Pioneer of the revolution in the 1980s, Prosper Simporé is one of the ten guides on the site of the Thomas Sankara memorial.
“
When people come, they see Captain Thomas Sankara, but he fell with his companions.
They are shown that not all of them are soldiers.
There are many who leave with hot tears.
»
Born in France, Reine Aicha discovers the building in front of which President Thomas Sankara and his collaborators were riddled with bullets.
“
Standing in front of the building where the assassination took place, I feel a lot of emotion and sadness too, thinking to myself: what would Burkina Faso be like now if this horrible act had not taken place?
»
Visitors who most often leave with gadgets bearing the image of the father of the Bukinabè revolution, sold on site.
This memory is topical because this youth today is disoriented, does not know what to do.
Bassirou Sanogo, former ambassador of Burkina in Algiers under Thomas Sankara, teacher and consultant in communication and
Yaya Boudani
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Thomas Sankara
Burkina Faso