Sankara’s relatives have for years pressed for the remains to be tested, saying they suspect it may not be that of the former president, who died in a coup that brought his former ally Blaise Compaore to power.
Witnesses at the Daghnoen cemetery on the outskirts of the capital Ouagadougou said the exhumation of Sankara’s body and those of 12 colleagues had begun with the families of the victims and lawyers present.
“We are worried. What if these are not the bodies of the people who are supposed to be in these graves?” asked Arouna Sawadogo, president of a civil society organisation. “If we open the supposed grave of the president of Burkina Faso and it is not him, what will happen?”Family members who witnessed the process told Reuters that only two of the 13 graves were exhumed by the end of the day and the process will continue on Tuesday with the exhumation of Sankara’s grave.
Bones and some remains of clothing were found in the two graves that were exhumed under a heavy police presence, the sources added.
Compaore faced questions about Sankara’s death throughout his presidency, but attempts to mount a judicial investigation stalled.
Compaore fled after a popular uprising against his rule in October last year and was replaced by an interim government led by Michel Kafando who promised to authorise an exhumation.
Dubbed Africa’s “Che Guevara” by admirers, Sankara’s reputation spread far beyond Burkina’s landlocked borders because of his determined anti-imperialist outlook and a raft of measures to end dependency on foreign aid.