Government orders exhumation of former president, Thomas Sankara's body

The Burkina Faso government has ordered that the remains of former president Thomas Sankara be exhumed, BBC reports.

The exhumation means Sankara's remains can be formally identified, a long-standing demand of Mr Sankara's supporters, who wanted proof that the remains were his.

Sankara was hastily buried in a coup led by his successor, Blaise Compaore who only just quit the presidency amid massive street protests last October.

Although Compaore has always denied being involved in the ex-leader's killing, insisting that the "facts are known" and he has "nothing to hide", the Burkina Faso court blocked a request by Sankara's family for his remains to be exhumed.

The new Michel Kafando led-government in Burkina Faso said Sankara's family would be given the means to help identify the corpse.

Speaking on the development, Sankara's widow, Miriam Sankara said she had not asked for the government's help and had yet to be officially contacted.

According to her:

"We, the family...cannot exhume the corpse, we want the judiciary to do it. And if they do it, it should be in the context of a judicial process that we have always demanded, in the context of finding out the truth and the helping in the search for President Sankara's murderers."

Sankara who sought to reduce government corruption remains widely in many parts of Africa and was the one who changed the name of the country from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which means "the land of upright men".