Henri Zongo (died 19 September 1989) was a Burkinabé politician and military officer. He served as a key figure in the country's history after

decolonisation Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

: Zongo was involved in two successful

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

s and accused of being the conspirator of a third that led to his execution. Zongo,

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 ...

, Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani and

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

formed the inner core of a military group that launched the 1983 coup d'état that brought Sankara to power as president. Zongo was appointed as the Minister of Economic Promotion on 4 August 1983, a role he served until his death. Zongo also served as the Sports Minister of Upper Volta; he called for an African boycott of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

to protest against Britain's sporting links with South Africa, whose

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

rule institutionalised

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

. Zongo, Lingani and Compaoré then led the 1987 coup d'état that saw the overthrow of Sankara. After this overthrow, Compaoré took power at the head of a

triumvirate A triumvirate () or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs (). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are notionally equal, the actual distr ...

of which Zongo and Lingani were members. Zongo and Lingani disagreed with Compaoré on economic reform issues and were accused of an attempt to overthrow the government. Zongo, Lingani and two unnamed military plotters were arrested and executed in 1989.

References

Year of birth missing 1989 deaths Burkinabe military personnel Executed Burkinabe people Government ministers of Burkina Faso People executed by Burkina Faso by firing squad {{Africa-mil-bio-stub