Mali, then Burkina Faso, and finally Niger have experienced coups d鈥櫭﹖at and subsequently formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). What should we make of this new reality for West Africa? Paul Martial provides his analysis.
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso鈥檚 government decided on January 18 to ask French military forces to leave the country within a month, reports Vijay Prashad.
With the help of the new laws, western mining companies have started expatriating mining profits, contributing to the super-exploitation and underdevelopment of Burkina Faso, writes Yanis Iqbal.
Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary
By Ernest Harsch
Ohio University Press, 2014
163 pages, $18.56.
A popular uprising in 1983 in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), a small and poor land-locked country in western Africa, had led to an obscure, but charismatic army officer becoming head of state.
This was inspiring news for those looking for a new breakthrough against imperialism. It had come after the depressing news that Margaret Thatcher's Britain had defeated Argentina in the Malvinas and Ronald Reagan's United States had crushed Grenada's revolution.
An incredible political transformation has been taking shape in the 鈥淟and of the Upright or Incorruptible People鈥, Burkina Faso.
Twenty-seven years after the assassination of revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara, Burkinabes turned out in their hundreds of thousands, for several days of protest. Chanting 鈥渆nough is enough鈥, it echoed a long history of trade union activism against political repression in the country, as well as protests staged through the Balai Citoyen collective.
After four days of the popular anger, president Blaise Compaore vacated his post.
Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore finally stepped down on October 31, ending his 27-year rule and handing over to joint chief of staff General Honore Traore.
Campaore first came to power in a coup that overthrow the revolutionary government headed by Thomas Sankara, which was leading a profound transformation of the west African nation.
The president was forced out of office by a burst of violent protests in which parliament was set ablaze. Protesters refused to accept anything short of his immediate resignation.