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Thomas Sankara Event seeks to address impunity in Africa (Organized by GRILA Toronto February 17th 2001)
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Towards Justice
Thomas Sankara Event seeks to address impunity in Africa
Lauded by many throughout the diaspora as an African revolutionary, Thomas Sankara, the late President of Burkina Faso, was assassinated with several comrades on October 15, 1987 by traitors within his very ranks. To this day, despite numerous appeals on the part of his widow - Mrs. Mariam Sankara - and the International Committee for Justice for Thomas Sankara (a collective of 15 lawyers and personalities in 8 countries, including Canada, France and Burkina Faso ) no efforts have been made, on the part of the state of Burkina Faso to find his assassins and bring them to fair trial. As part of an urgent effort to increase international awareness around this case, the Group for Research and Initiative on the Liberation of Africa (GRILA) will be holding a panel discussion entitled “Towards an African Union: Addressing Impunity and Injustice. The panel will take place on February 17, 2001 from 7:00PM - 9:00PM at Burke’s Bookstore located at 873 St. Clair Avenue West . The event will address the case of Thomas Sankara in the wider context of the impunity and injustice which prevails on the continent, forty years after many African countries have shaken of the shackles of colonialism only to take up neo-colonial chains. As Mr. Aziz Fall, a Professor in African Studies at McGill University and a GRILA member of the International Committee for Justice for Thomas Sankara says, "Thomas Sankara worked for African youth, for women’s rights, for a responsible development, for the struggle against apartheid...for human rights”. There should be an international mobilisation to bring justice to fruition for the whole of Africa" GRILA hopes that the event will also encourage the audience to engage in a critical discussion around this issues, particularly in light of the North American mass media’s cavalier analysis of recent current events relating to impunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote D’Ivoire and Zimbabwe. In the case of Thomas Sankara, “legal tricks” have been used by the state to address consistent appeals for a fair trail. The Procurer General dismissed the case in the civil courts ruling that it was a military matter for the military courts to decide. By indirectly sending such a serious appeal to another body, and stalling the natural course of the judicial process, the state appears to be admitting that the late President Sankara may not have died of the alleged “natural causes”, stated on Sankara’s death certificate. Assassination and political intimidation has also been rampant in Burkina Faso in this regard, as evidenced in the case of the outspoken and notable journalist, Norbert Zongo, who was brutally murdered in Burkina Faso along with This tragedy highlights the continued significance of the Thomas Sankara case particularly to the people of Burkina Faso and to the enduring human rights struggles on the African continent . Those attending the event are encouraged to participate in the international campaign by joining or offering specific legal expertise and/or financial assistance to the International Commitee for Justice for Thomas Sankara. For more information, please call or e-mail GRILA at (416) 926-8713/ admin@grila.org http://www.grila.com Event Location: Burke Books, 873 St. Clair Avenue West (1 block east of Oakwood; nearest subway: St. Clair West). (416) 656-5366
A luta Continua
GRILA
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