AFRICAN STREAM VISITS THOMAS SANKARA PLAZA IN NIGER

Last month, African Stream had the opportunity to visit the new Thomas Sankara Plaza in Niamey, Niger, that many Pan-Africanists worldwide have been raving about. 

While we had covered the plaza’s inauguration on 15 October, the date of Sankara's assassination, we were able this time to see it first-hand and speak with Nigeriens and Burkinabé about what it means.

This move is just one of many in honour of revolutionary Pan-Africanist and socialist figures within the Sahel. Niger’s government recently honoured Djibo Bakary (1922-98), the great Nigerien socialist and Pan-Africanist leader whom African Stream produced a video about, by changing the name of Charles de Gaulle Avenue (in honour of a French coloniser) to Djibo Bakary Avenue.

However, the changes in Niger are more than just symbolic. With Niger expelling French and US military forces and ending French mining giant Orano's contract, Niger is forging a path toward sovereignty that we suspect would make assassinated Burkina Faso President Thomas Sankara (1949-87) proud.