On this day in 1987: Thomas Sankara assassinated

On this day in 1987 Burkina Faso's revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara was assassinated in a coup plot involving elements of French intelligence. In October 1984, Sankara spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York to call for sanctions on Israel and support for Palestine's liberation struggle.

The young and charismatic Sankara had spent the three years of his presidency calling out the injustice of colonialism and neocolonialism, and how powerful nations still exploited the resources of many African countries while keeping them dependent on aid. He saw many parallels between the Palestinians’ struggle against the colonisation of their country by the US-backed Israeli state and his own country’s fight against European neocolonialism.

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