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James said the jihadists also expressed the view that if Sankara and Nkrumah had "lived long", then "the whole of Africa would have been a better place - nobody would have travelled from Africa to the West. People would have been travelling from the West to Africa".

In a sign that the jihadists were also influenced by pan-Africanism, James said some of them invoked the names of revolutionaries like Burkina Faso's Thomas Sankara and Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and told him that people should "rise up" against "bad leaders" and free themselves from "bondage".

His image has now been replaced by a plaque with a portrait of Burkina Faso's iconic revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara, a charismatic pan-Africanist who was assassinated in 1987.

In Burkina Faso, we found reports about a football competition where the Russian national anthem was played, “friendship lessons” in schools where students are taught about Russia, a competition of the Soviet martial art “sambo”, first aid workshops for citizens and policemen, and a graffiti festival where participants drew Russian President Vladimir Putin alongside Burkina Faso’s former leader Thomas Sankara, all sponsored by African Initiative.

Compaore, 72, was convicted in 2022 of the murder of Thomas Sankara, the iconic African leader who died in a coup 35 years ago.