Blaise Compaoré

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Blaise Compaoré at the White House (USA), August 27, 2014

Blaise Compaoré (born February 3, 1951 in Ouagadougou , Upper Volta , now Burkina Faso ) is a Burkinabe politician and was President of the West African state of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 2014 .

Life

Military training

After Compaoré had spent his childhood in Ziniaré northeast of the capital Ouagadougou and passed the Abitur, he began military training in Cameroon , which he continued in France and Morocco . In 1982 he was appointed captain (capitaine) in the Upper Voltaic army .

Participation in Sankara's revolution

As a companion and friend of Thomas Sankara , he belonged to the group of officers who brought him to power through a coup against President Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo on August 4, 1983. In the following three years he held various ministerial posts.

1987: Overthrow and murder of Sankara, Compaoré president

On the grounds that he had to protect Sankarism from Sankara, who more and more often made lonely, difficult-to-see decisions, he organized the putsch against Thomas Sankara four years later , in the course of which he was murdered. This was referred to in Burkina Faso as rectification (French: "correction") of the revolution of 1983, the continuity of which was to be ensured under Compaoré.

On October 15, 1987, Blaise Compaoré became the sixth President of Burkina Faso. In 1991 the constitution of the Fourth Republic, which he had initiated, was adopted by referendum and Compaoré was confirmed in office by elections boycotted by the opposition. The turnout was 27 percent. In 1998 there were again elections, in which Blaise Compaoré was elected for another seven years.

The case of Norbert Zongo

The scandal surrounding his brother François Compaoré made the corruption in the government elite clear: In December 1998, the opposition journalist Norbert Zongo was found shot dead in his burned-out car with three companions. Since there was no evidence of an accident, the opposition spoke of an assassination attempt . This resulted in demonstrations by thousands of citizens, the crackdown on which many people died. Various opposition and human rights groups formed the "Collectif" and demanded a thorough judicial investigation of the case. The journalist had just researched an explosive story: It was about François Compaoré's chauffeur, David Ouédraogo, who was believed to have been tortured to death by members of the Presidential Guard for allegedly stealing 19.8 million francs CFA from his employer (around 50,000 Euro).

An independent commission of inquiry came to the conclusion in May 1999 that Norbert Zongo had been murdered for political reasons and that his research into the cause of the driver's death had also played a role. In June 1999, three of the President's bodyguards were arrested. In August 2000, after a lengthy investigation, six members of the Presidential Guard were charged with torture. Three of the defendants were sentenced to between ten and twenty years' imprisonment for the murder of David Ouédraogo. Two others were acquitted, the sixth was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for the murder of Norbert Zongo. In early 2001, the former head of the Presidential Guard was also charged with his involvement in the murder of Norbert Zongo and willful arson.

The opposition, however, was not satisfied with the legal processing, as the role of François Compaoré was not examined in more detail. With that, those actually responsible got away with it.

Because of the ongoing protests, President Compaoré was forced to form a "government of national unity" and to accept curtailment of his own power. The domestic political situation subsequently calmed down. In the parliamentary elections in May 2002, which ran off properly, the ruling party lost significantly in votes, but remained the strongest party with 58 of 111 seats in parliament.

2005 presidential election

Palais Kosyam in Ouaga 2000 , seat of the President of Burkina Faso since 2005

A constitutional amendment in 2000 limited the president's term of office to two terms of five years each. In favor of a renewed candidacy for Compaoré in the 2005 elections, it was argued that he had served two terms of office of seven years and that, according to the words of the later amended constitution, he had the option of being available for two further five-year terms.

In the presidential elections on November 13, 2005, according to the election commission, he received around 80 percent of the vote in the first ballot, while none of his eleven competitors achieved more than 5 percent. The turnout was given as 57.5 percent. Since the entire opposition had participated for the first time, Compaoré's subsequent term of office was seen as the first to be genuinely democratically legitimized.

2010 presidential election

In the same line of argument as in 2005, Campaoré ran again for election. On November 21, 2010, he was re-elected with a nominal vote of over 80 percent and a very low turnout.

Attempted constitutional amendment, riots and resignation in 2014

A planned constitutional amendment that should allow Compaoré a fifth term was heavily criticized by the opposition and led to the largest demonstration in a long time at the beginning of 2014 . In the last week of October, the protests broadened and led to riots. The day before the vote in parliament on the constitutional amendment, the unions and the opposition called for a strike. On October 30, 2014, the day of the scheduled vote, the military ousted the government and dissolved parliament. The following day Compaoré resigned as president; Army chief Nabéré Honoré Traoré had previously stated that a transitional government would take over power until a constitutional order is restored "within twelve months". Both Traoré and the Vice-Chief of the Presidential Guard , Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Yacouba Zida , claimed the post of interim president. Ultimately, the military leadership unanimously supported Zida, and competitor Traoré also signed a declaration to this effect. Compaoré had meanwhile left the country and fled to the neighboring state of Ivory Coast . On November 21, 2014, it was announced that Compaoré had since fled to Morocco.

Coup of the former Presidential Guard 2015

On the afternoon of September 16, 2015, armed members of the Régiment de sécurité présidentielle (RSP), the former Praetorian Guard of the deposed Compaoré, stormed a government meeting in Ouagadougou. They arrested the interim president Michel Kafando and his head of government Isaac Zida and took them away. Three days earlier, the National Reconciliation Commission had decided to dissolve the presidential guard, which had been barracked up until then. RSP soldiers also occupied the studios of several private radio stations and switched off the transmission systems. The programs of the foreign service of the French radio were also affected. A day later, a soldier announced on state television that the transitional government had been removed from office and that the military had taken power in the country. The coup took place less than a month before the planned presidential election, from which Compaoré's CDP party is excluded. The coup failed after just under a week. The coup plotters were arrested and the presidential guard disbanded. The election took place later than planned on November 29, 2015 .

Later developments

A military court in Burkina Faso issued an international arrest warrant on December 21, 2015 against Blaise Compaoré on suspicion of involvement in the October 15, 1987 murder of Thomas Sankara. He has lived in exile in Ivory Coast since his fall in 2014 . However, the head of the military justice system in Burkina Faso assured on December 25, 2015 that the extradition against Blaise Compaoré was being negotiated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

literature

documentary

  • Une révolution africaine. Les dix jours qui ont fait chuter Blaise Compaoré , 120 '. Directed by Gideon Vink, Boubakar Sangaré. 2015.

Web links

Commons : Blaise Compaoré  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Large demonstration against planned constitutional amendments , dw.de of January 19, 2014, accessed on October 30, 2014.
  2. ^ Rioting during protests in Burkina Faso , dw.de of October 28, 2014, accessed on October 30, 2014.
  3. ↑ Burkina Faso Parliament Stormed by Protesters , AllAfrica.com, October 30, 2014 (English).
  4. ↑ Dirke Köpp: With stones and strikes against Burkina’s president , dw.de of October 29, 2014, accessed on October 30, 2014.
  5. ↑ The military takes power in Burkina Faso , dw.de of October 30, 2014, accessed on October 30, 2014.
  6. ↑ Burkina Faso Army Dissolves Government , AllAfrica.com, October 30, 2014 (English).
  7. ↑ Burkina Faso: President resigns , dw.de of October 31, 2014, accessed on October 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore has announced his resignation after political unrest , BBC .
  9. ^ Uprising in Burkina Faso: military chiefs fight for power . Spiegel Online, November 1, 2014, accessed on the same day.
  10. ↑ Burkina Faso: Army stands behind Zida as interim president , NZZ online , November 2, 2014.
  11. ↑ Burkina Faso: Vice Chief of the Presidential Guard takes power . Spiegel Online, November 1, 2014, accessed on the same day
  12. ↑ maroczone.de of November 22, 2014: Morocco accepts Compaoré , accessed on November 26, 2014
  13. ↑ Markus M. Haefliger: The Ancien Régime stretches its head: In Burkina Faso the military seizes power at nzz.ch, September 17, 2015 (accessed September 17, 2015).
  14. ↑ Markus M. Haefliger: Burkinabe flocks to the urns . NZZ, November 29, 2015, accessed on the same day
  15. ↑ International arrest warrant against ex-President Compaoré. In: Zeit Online. December 21, 2015, accessed December 29, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Burkina Faso: Côte d'Ivoire is to extradite Compaoré. December 25, 2015, accessed December 25, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Compaoré, Blaise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Burkinabe politician, President-in-exile of Burkina Faso
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd February 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Ouagadougou