KemetLeads

Their words

“Our predecessors taught us one thing: the slave who is not capable of assuming his own revolt does not deserve to be pitied.”

Source: Speech at the Russia–Africa Summit, St Petersburg, 28 July 2023, quoting Thomas Sankara (UN General Assembly, 1984)

Context Burkina Faso's military leader since the 2022 coup, speaking at the Russia–Africa summit, where he repeated a line from Thomas Sankara's 1984 UN speech.

Portrait of Ibrahim Traoré
Ibrahim TraoréBurkina Faso · b. 1988
Read their story →

Pick the card background

Share on X WhatsApp All quotes

More words from Ibrahim Traoré

“We African heads of state must stop behaving like puppets who dance every time the imperialists pull the strings.”
Ibrahim Traoré Burkina Faso
“My generation cannot understand how Africa, with so much wealth beneath our soil, with a generous nature, water and sunshine in abundance, is today the poorest continent.”
Ibrahim Traoré Burkina Faso
“A people that never abdicates, that never gives up, that stands up to adversity.”
Ibrahim Traoré Burkina Faso
“The Eldorado our peoples dream of, we can build it here, and we have faith in this people.”
Ibrahim Traoré Burkina Faso
“We invite all other Africans, all these oppressed peoples, to unite in order to face adversity.”
Ibrahim Traoré Burkina Faso

More words from Politics & Governance

“If yesterday I fought as an enemy, today you have become a friend and ally with the same national interest, loyalty, rights and duties as myself.”
Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe
“Africa should have one identity, one nationality, one people, one currency, one army.”
Muammar Gaddafi Libya
“The decisions taken by the conference will be applied in order and in freely accepted discipline. This is not defeatism, it is not capitulation, it is a question of national responsibility.”
Mathieu Kérékou Benin