Compaoré, Blaise (1952– )

Burkinabè politician; president of Burkina Faso from 1987, and founder and chair of the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress party. An army officer, he fell out with President Thomas Sankara who was killed in an October 1987 coup that brought Compaoré to power. Compaoré tolerated the development of multiparty politics and his government was not considered severely repressive. He was re-elected by popular vote in 1991, 1998, and 2005, helped by divisions among the opposition.

Born in Ziniaré, he became a career soldier and was a close ally of Thomas Sankara from the mid 1970s. Between 1983–87, he became second-in-command to President Sankara, serving as minister of state and as a member of the National Council for the Revolution (CDR).