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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Macron vows to release files on Burkina hero

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Ouagadougou: President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday kicked off his maiden African tour by vowing to declassify secret French files on Burkina Faso’s assassinated leader, Thomas Sankara, hailed as a revolutionary hero in many parts of the continent.


The threat of terrorism has cast a shadow over Macron’s swing through West Africa, with three civilians being wounded in an attempted grenade attack on French troops in Ouagadougou, the Burkinabe capital, shortly before his arrival late Monday.


“Two hooded individuals on a motorcycle threw a grenade towards a French army vehicle” as it made its way to a barracks housing French special forces, a security source said on condition of anonymity.


The three-day trip aims to boost France’s influence in West Africa, taking him from Burkina Faso —bearing the brunt of militant attacks in the Sahel — to a European-African summit in Ivory Coast and finally to Ghana, a former British colony.


After meeting Burkinabe President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Macron touched on one of the country’s greatest traumas — the killing of its revered leader Sankara, 30 years ago.


All French files on the event will be made available for Burkinabe investigators, Macron said.


“At present, except for documents which are classified and categorised as secret, the files are available and open to Burkinabe justice,” Macron said.


“I have made a clear undertaking and I have just told President Kabore: these documents will now be declassified for Burkinabe justice, which will have access to all the documents on the Sankara affair.”


Sankara, a charismatic young army captain dubbed “Africa’s Che Guevara”, was cut down in a hail of bullets on October 15, 1987 on his way to a special cabinet meeting.


The putsch — which many Burkinabe today suspect had a French role — brought Sankara’s close friend Blaise Compaore to power.


Compaore himself ruled Burkina Faso with a rod of iron until October 2014, when he was ousted by a popular uprising.


About a dozen people have been charged in connection with Sankara’s assassination including soldiers from the presidential security unit.


Compaore, who is in exile in Ivory Coast, is the subject of an international arrest warrant over the killing.


Macron’s schedule Tuesday including an address to university students, a visit to a school and a meeting with members of the French community in Ouagadougou.


— AFP


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