By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 30 -- After mounting protests in Burkina Faso of Blaise Compaore's 27-year rule, begun with the assassination of Thomas Sankara, for two days the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been vaguely calling for calm. Then past 10 pm on the US East Coast the US State Department issued this statement:
“The United States welcomes President Compaore’s decision to withdraw a National Assembly bill which would have amended the constitution and allowed him to run for an additional term of office. We also welcome his decision to form a government of national unity to prepare for national elections and to transfer power to a democratically elected successor. We look forward to that transition taking place in 2015. We regret the violence and the loss of life today in Burkina Faso, and call on all parties to avoid further violence. We underscore our commitment to peaceful transitions of power through democratic elections and emphasize neither side should attempt to change the situation through extra-constitutional means.”
But is Compoare really relinquishing power? Why did the US - and the UN Secretariat -- support his 27 year rule, while criticizing others?
Twenty seven years ago, Thomas Sankara was overthrown and killed in a coup led by Blaise Compaore.
It was under Sankara that the country's name change from "Upper Volta" to Burkina Faso, land of the upright. History records two meetings of Sankara and France's Francois Mitterand. At the Vittel conference, Mitterand stared stony-faced ahead as Sankara spoke of seeking foreign relations with countries beyond France.
And later, after South African apartheid leader Pieter Botha had visited France, Sankara criticized Mitterand to his face in Ouagadougou, after Mitterand drove through the streets waving at the crowd. Soon the Compaore coup would kill Sankara, and France and Boigny would congratulate Compaore. The rest is history.
And new colonies, too: France has laid claim to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, controlling the Security Council's pen and most recent trip there, down to which media could go on the "UN" plane.
France for over sixteen years has controlled UN Peacekeeping, now through Herve Ladsous, twice spurned, who refuses to answer or even take Press questions.
What would Thomas Sankara say? On this day, and going forward, we must ask. Watch this site.
