Burkina Faso buries exhumed remains of murdered ex-leader Sankara

Memorial statue of Thomas Sankara, former leader and revolutionary who was killed in 1987, is pictured before the burial of his remains in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso February 23, 2023. REUTERS/Anne Mimault.

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - The exhumed remains of Burkina Faso's beloved ex-president Thomas Sankara, whose 1987 murder shocked the West African nation, were laid to rest at a ceremony in the capital Ouagadougou on Thursday.

The charismatic Marxist revolutionary, known as "Africa's Che Guevara", was gunned down along with 12 others during a bloody coup led by his former ally and successor Blaise Compaore. He was aged 37 at the time.