Madar (Ouagadougou) - Burkina Faso marked its national day of homage to martyrs on Saturday, 31 October 2026, honouring the victims of the October 2014 popular uprising and the failed coup of September 2015, leFaso.net reported.
The president of the Legislative Assembly of the People, Ousmane Bougouma, representing the head of state, chaired the ceremony at the National Heroes monument in Ouaga 2000. A siren sounded at 10 a.m., a minute of silence was observed and Bougouma laid a wreath at the monument.
Victor Pouahoulabou, president of the victims' families association, said it was the 12th commemoration of the deaths of their relatives on 30 and 31 October 2014 in Ouagadougou and other localities, and thanked the government for keeping the date, which he said "proves that the sacrifice of our parents will never be forgotten".
In a message carried by leFaso.net, citing the presidency, Capt. Ibrahim Traore said "the entire nation bows" before those who made "the supreme sacrifice", praised the resilience of bereaved families and called the wounded "living heroes".
He reaffirmed his commitment to a "war of liberation" to free the country "from the claws of imperialism and its terrorist hordes", adding: "Burkina Faso will be totally free, sovereign and independent. That is the only oath worthy of your spilled blood".
