Adama Abdoulaye Touré (1936 – 26 October 2012) was a Burkinabé politician. Touré was a radical student activist and became a leading member of the communist

African Independence Party The African Independence Party (, PAI) was a communist party in French West Africa (AOF). PAI was founded in Thiès, Senegal in 1957. Later as AOF was dissolved into independent countries the local PAI sections became independent parties, often ke ...

(PAI), and would become the leader of the party in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

. He was a teacher at a military academy and played a significant role in forming the ideological outlook of military leaders who would govern the country after the 1983 revolution. He served as Minister of Information in the revolutionary government 1983–1984, but was imprisoned after the split between PAI and the military. He was known by the nickname " Lénine".

Youth

Touré was born in 1936 in

Kampti Kampti is a village in Burkina Faso and capital of Kampti Department.Burkinabé govern ...

(today in

Poni Province Poni is one of the 45 provinces of Burkina Faso, located in its Sud-Ouest Region (Burkina Faso), Sud-Ouest Region. Its capital is Gaoua. Departments Poni is divided into 10 departments: * Bouroum-Bouroum Department, Bouroum-Bouroum * Bousséra D ...

, then in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

French West Africa French West Africa (, ) was a federation of eight French colonial empires#Second French colonial empire, French colonial territories in West Africa: Colonial Mauritania, Mauritania, French Senegal, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guin ...

). He attended primary school from 1944 to 1950. He studied the Modern Colleges of

Bobo-Dioulasso Bobo-Dioulasso ( , ) is a city in Burkina Faso with a population of 1,129,000 (); it is the second-largest city in the country, after Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. The name means "home of the Bobo- Dioula". The local Bobo-speaking pop ...

and

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou or Wagadugu (, , , ) is the capital city of Burkina Faso, and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic centre of the nation. It is also the List of cities in Burkina Faso#Largest cities, country's largest city, wi ...

from 1951 to 1959, and obtained a baccalaureate degree. He was elected as the representative of the pupils at the Modern College of Bobo-Dioulasso in 1953. In 1956, he became the president of the Kampti Pupils Fraternal Union (UEFK). He would also be elected as the representative of the pupils at Modern College of Ouagadougou.

Senegal years

In 1959, he enrolled in the

University of Dakar Cheikh Anta Diop University (), also known as the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, is a university in Dakar, Senegal. It is named after the Senegalese physicist, historian and anthropologist Cheikh Anta Diop and has an enrollment of over 60, ...

. He was the chairman of the Voltan Scholarly Association (ASV) of Dakar from 1961 to 1965. He later served as secretary of the Voltan section of the General Students Union of West Africa (UGEAO) from 1962 to 1966. As an UGEAO student activist, he joined the

(PAI) in May 1962. He obtained a degree in history and geography, as well as a on the resistance to the recruitment of Upper Voltan

riflemen A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the r ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He worked as a history and geography teacher at the Ecole Normale des Jeunes Filles in

Thiès Thiès (; ; Noon language, Noon: ''Chess'') is the third largest city in Senegal with a population of 391,253 in 2023. It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road (Senegal), N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and Saint-Louis, ...

from 1966 to 1967.

Return to Upper Volta

In 1967, he returned to Upper Volta, and began teaching at the (today the PMK military school). In 1969 he was appointed as director of the Ecole Normal des Instituteurs et Institutrices de Ouagadougou. In 1971, PAI organized an anti-imperialist protest against the visit of Ivorian president

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was an Ivorian politician and physician who served as the first List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, pr ...

, after which Adama was dismissed from his teaching post. Later the same year, he returned to teaching at the PMK military school (where he would remain until 1981). He would serve as studies director at PMK.Libreinfo.
Mémoire : De l’intérêt pour la lecture de la biographie de Sankara
' His style of teaching differed greatly from the French teachers that remained at the institution; he gave lectures on the events of the French,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, Algerian and

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

revolutions and earned the nickname 'Lénine' from the students at PMK.

Influence on Sankara

His students at the PMK military school included the young cadets

Thomas Sankara Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (; 21 December 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a Burkinabè military officer, Marxist and Pan-Africanist revolutionary who served as the President of Burkina Faso from 1983, following his takeover in a coup, until ...

and

Blaise Compaoré Blaise Compaoré (born 3 February 1951)''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 76–77.

. Touré later became Sankara's political mentor;
Quarterly Economic Review of Togo, Niger, Benin, Burkina, Issue 1
'. EIU, 1985. p. 21 per , " e one who opened the eyes of President Thomas Sankara to the

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

was Adama Touré, nicknamed Lenin, teacher in history and geography, studies director at Prytanée militaire de Kadiogo (PMK) during President Sankara's time at the establishment". Brian J. Peterson stated that " 's difficult to overstate the importance of Adama Toure in the political education of Sankara and his peers, who were still callow youth looking for direction. During the revolution, Sankara took his distance from Toure and downplayed his former teacher's influence in a bid to consolidate power. However, those who knew Sankara well during the PMK years agree that Toure had a tremendous influence on Sankara's intellectual formation".

PAI leader

An activist in the National Union of African Teachers of Upper Volta (SNEAHV) and later the Voltan Unitary Trade Union of Secondary and Higher Education Teachers (SUVESS), Touré was a co-founder of the Voltan Trade Union Confederation (CSV) in September 1974. In 1975, the PAI leader Amirou Thiombiano unexpectedly died. Adama Touré took over the post as the Upper Voltan PAI general secretary, and inducted Philippe Ouédraogo and his relative

Soumane Touré Soumane Touré (14 March 1948 – 25 March 2021) was a Burkinabé politician and trade unionist. He was a prominent student activist during his youth and joined the communist African Independence Party (PAI). He served as the general secretary ...

into the PAI Executive Committee.aOuaga.com.
Obsèques de Touré Adama : Des témoignages émouvants
' Under Adama's leadership, as the liberation wars in

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

were winding down, PAI shifted its focus to domestic politics. PAI built mass movements, with the Patriotic League for Development (LIPAD) movement bringing the influence of the underground PAI out of the shadows.Brian J. Peterson.
Thomas Sankara: A Revolutionary in Cold War Africa
'. Indiana University Press, 2021. He remained in the post as general secretary of PAI until 1990. After leaving the PMK military school, he served as Director of General Secondary Teaching, later Director of General and Technical Secondary Teaching from 1981 to 1983.

Government minister and imprisonment

On 24 August 1983, he was named Minister of Information, being one of five LIPAD-PAI cabinet ministers in the new revolutionary government.Ludo Martens, Hilde Meesters.
Sankara, Compaoré et la révolution burkinabè
'. Editions Aden, 1989. pp. 111 During May–June 1984 Touré was on a tour of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, during which he spoke publicly on the tensions between LIPAD and the militaries in the government.James Genova.
Making New People: Politics, Cinema, and Liberation in Burkina Faso, 1983–1987
'. MSU Press, 2022. pp. xi, 9–10, 15, 18–19, 51–52, 92–93, 165 Touré was dismissed from the government in August 1984.
Africa Today
'. Africa Journal Limited, 1991. p. 599 He was detained in October 1984.
Afrique contemporaine, Issues 133–136
'. Documentation française, 1985. p. 64 In early November 1984 Touré was transferred to a Sûreté générale police post, where he met fellow PAI prisoners

Hama Arba Diallo Hama Arba Diallo (23 March 1939 – 30 September 2014) was a Burkinabé politician, diplomat and civil servant. He was minister of foreign affairs of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) from 1983 to 1984. Diallo, an opponent of President Blaise Co ...

and his name-sake Adama Touré. He was released from detention on 3 February 1986, along with Adama Touré.
Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Vol. 32
'. Keesing's Limited., 1986. p. 34339

Later years

He worked as the History and Geography Cell at the Burkina Pedagogical Institute between 1987 and 1989. He became the founding director of Lycée Privé de la Jeunesse in 1990.Adama Abdoulaye Touré.
Une vie de militant: ma lutte du collège à la révolution de Thomas Sankara
'. Hamaria, 2001. cover page, p. 154 Touré died during the night between 26 and 27 October 2012. The Adama Abdoulaye Touré Foundation for Science and Education (''Fondation Abdoulaye Adama Touré pour la science et l'éducation'') was established in 2014, in honour of Adama Touré.lefaso.net.
Enseignement secondaire : la Fondation Adama Touré pour la science et l’éducation offre des bourses pour encourager des filles
'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toure, Adama 1936 births 2012 deaths African Independence Party (Burkina Faso) politicians Burkinabe trade unionists People from Sud-Ouest Region (Burkina Faso) Government ministers of Burkina Faso Cheikh Anta Diop University alumni Burkinabe educators