It has been thirty years since Thomas Sankara took power, before he was assassinated in 1987. The Sankarist Revolution was one of the greatest attempts at popular democratic emancipation in post-Independence Africa and is considered a novel experience of broad economic, social, cultural and political transformation

The country has remained stable under long-serving President Compaore, but now elections are looming. The transition could be tricky, a new report says, and attempts to amend the constitution to enable Compaore to run again could spark a popular uprising

Civil society groups urge the government of Burkina Faso to take necessary steps to guarantee freedom of expression

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore has ordered 1,000 combat troops to be deployed in the northern region bordering crisis-hit Mali to guard against kidnappings, the foreign minister said. A complex web of rebel groups, including fighters from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim), has controlled northern Mali since a coup in the country on 22 March threw the country into turmoil.