Sankara was the first apostle of the African Renaissance, taken over and perfected by former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.

Marginalising a part of the political class can only lead to strategies of contestation and destabilisation, as Crisis Group reported in June. The former majority does not enjoy much popular support, especially in the cities, but retains significant loyalties within the RSP.

The investigation into the murder of late President Thomas Sankara is also fuelling this explosive mix. Some senior RSP officers are believed to have been involved in Sankara’s killing in 1987, and a few RSP officers have reportedly been indicted in recent weeks in relation to the investigation. Coincidentally, the results of the autopsy and ballistic examination that were carried out following the exhumation of Sankara’s grave were due to be communicated to the lawyers on Thursday, the day after the coup.

The RSP and the former majority will not accept elections in which some of their candidates are excluded, and civil society and political parties will not accept to re-include them in the elections. A way out of the crisis seems far off.

Military high commands in African armed forces have imbibed republican ethos and are not willing to participate in coup d’états.

Manifesting not just as physical or sexual violence (strikes, rape, abuse, sexual exploitation, etc.), violence against women can also take the form of psychological or moral violence (insults, threats, defamation, etc.), economic violence (denial of access to monetary resources, income, land, etc.), and social violence (female genital mutilation, early and/or forced-marriage, repudiation for reasons including accusations of witchcraft, compulsory levirate marriages, etc.), amongst others.

Furthermore, such acts are compounded by the local cultural practices and norms, which are contextually characterised by strong traditions, customs, and patriarchial interpretations of religion.

Scrutiny of actual experiences reveals a tragic tale of crippling debt, appalling market prices and a technology prone to failure in the absence of very specific and onerous management techniques, which are not suited to smallholder production. As stated by a farmer during a Malian public consultation on GMOs, "What's the point of encouraging us to increase yields with GMOs when we can't get a decent price for what we already produce?"

The NPA’s implicit claim that Colonel Isaac Zida’s coup and his negotiations with the bourgeois opposition are a “victory resulting from the popular uprising” is an absurd political lie.