1987 Burkinabé coup d'état

The 1987 Burkinabé coup d'état was a bloody military coup in Burkina Faso, which took place on 15 October 1987. It was orchestrated by Blaise Compaoré against incumbent President Thomas Sankara, his former friend and associate during the 1983 upheaval. Sankara was killed by an armed group with twelve other officials. Afterwards, the new President Compaoré cited deterioration in relations with neighbouring countries as one of the reasons for the coup, and stated that Sankara jeopardised foreign relations with former colonial power France and neighbouring Ivory Coast. Following the coup and although Sankara was known to be dead, some CDRs mounted an armed resistance to the military for several days.

Compaoré described the killing of Sankara as an "accident", but the circumstances have never been properly investigated. The 2015 autopsy had revealed that Sankara's body was "riddled" with "more than a dozen" bullets, as reported by one of the lawyers representing Sankara's widow Mariam.

Prince Johnson, a former Liberian warlord allied to Charles Taylor, told Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission that it was engineered by Taylor.