Burkina Faso issues arrest warrant against ex-president

Burkina Faso authorities have issued an international arrest warrant against former president Blaise Compaore in connection with the 1987 assassination of revolutionary president Thomas Sankara, judicial sources said on Tuesday.

The sources said the arrest warrant against the former president, who has been living in exile in Cote d'Ivoire since the fall of his regime in October 2014, was issued in early December, Xinhua reported.

In May, authorities opened up the suspected grave of the father of Burkina Faso's revolution to identify his remains and determine the real causes of his death.

The preliminary results had indicated that Sankara's remains were shot by bullets.

General Gilbert Diendere, a former army chief during Compaore's regime and the leader of the failed coup in September this year, has already been charged in connection with Sankara's assassination.

He is accused of having led the soldiers who assassinated the former president during a coup on October 15, 1987.

About ten other soldiers from the ex-presidential security regiment that was led by Diendere face charges over suspicion of involvement in the assassination of Sankara.