Western countries, too, did a fair bit of brow-furrowing and hand wringing over Sankara's friendship with Gaddafi - that and the fact that he was never shy about denouncing western imperialism. Predictably, he didn't last long. In an et tu Brutus moment, Sankara's comrade and close advisor, Captain Blaise Campaor�, staged a successful coup that ended with Sankara being taken to a spot outside Ouagadougou and shot. Campaor� immediately restored the status quo, reinstating government salaries to pre-Sankara levels and cutting food subsidies. But these measures have only emphasised a feeling of malaise in Burkinab� society. The disgruntled citizens miss Sankara, the United States are miffed over Burkina Faso's chummy relationship with Liberia, Campaor� is under siege by a population stirred up over the death of journalist Norbet Zongo, and there appears to be a general lack of direction in the government.
Relations with neighbouring C�te d'Ivoire have suffered recently due to the expulsion of some 12,000 migrant Burkinab� farmers who are now refugees in the environs of Gaoua. The next presidential election is scheduled for 2005.
