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Burkina Faso’s Coup Leader Likes to Party Like It’s 1987
Twenty-eight years ago, Gen. Gilbert Diendéré was involved in a coup d’etat that overthrew Burkina Faso’s revolutionary president Thomas Sankara, also known as “Africa’s Ché Guevara.” Diendéré’s soldiers stormed a cabinet meeting on the orders of Sankara’s successor, Blaise Compaoré, and shot the charismatic president to death. Now, let’s fast forward... Read more
How 1,500 Elite Soldiers Hijacked a Country
A shadowy menace haunts the West African nation of Burkina Faso. The country’s hated and feared Regiment of Presidential Security–a praetorian guard-like military force–works behind the scenes, and the interim government cowers whenever this branch of the military threatens a coup d’etat. The soldiers have killed regime critics and... Read more

Peter Dörrie

Africa Correspondent

Journalist specialising in security politics on the African continent.