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Thomas Sankara
Born
Sankara took power in a 1983 coup and renamed Upper Volta Burkina Faso, "land of upright people". His programme was self-reliance against neo-colonialism: mass vaccination and tree-planting, opposition to female genital cutting and forced marriage, and a 1987 speech urging African states to refuse to repay debts owed to former colonial powers. His rule was also authoritarian, with revolutionary tribunals and banned unions, and he was killed in the coup that brought Blaise Compaoré to power in 1987.
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