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The military government in Burkina Faso is preparing to rebury the remains of former President Thomas Sankara on Thursday even after his family said they would not attend.
The private ceremony will be held at the spot where Sankara was gunned down along with 12 others in a military coup in October 1987.
His family said they would not attend because they were not satisfied with the site, but the government said the choice was guided by “socio-cultural and security imperatives of national interest”.
Sankara remains a hero for many across Africa because of his anti-imperialist stance and austere lifestyle.
The government says his reburial will be done according to customary and religious funeral rites.
Sankara rose to power 1983 and was killed four years later at the age of 37 in a coup led by by his close friend Blaise Compaoré.
Mr Compaoré proceeded to rule the country for 27 years before being deposed in 2014 after a popular uprising. He was handed a life sentence in absentia in 2022 for the death of Mr Sankara.