Addia Ababa – Burkina Faso presidential candidate Jean-Baptiste Natama has pledged to reopen the investigation into the assassination of journalist Norbert Zongo, whose death 20 years ago angered the local and international community.
Natama, who has quit his powerful job as Chief of Staff of African Union Commission Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to pursue his presidential dream, said he would do all he could to find out the truth behind Zongo’s gruesome murder should he be elected president.
Zongo, publisher and former editor of I’Indépendant in Burkina Faso, and three others were killed and their bodies set alight over 16 years ago.
At the time of his death, Zongo was working on a story about how David Ouedraogo, driver and domestic employee of Francis Campaoré, was tortured and killed in 1998 for allegedly stealing vast sums of money from his employer. Francis Campaoré is the younger brother of Blaise Campaoré, who had been Burkina Faso’s president for 27 years before being overthrown last year after a major civic uprising.
A presidential commission concluded that Zongo’s killing was politically motivated, triggered by his investigation into Ouedraogo’s killing. The commission also implicated five members of Burkina’s presidential guards, but to date no one has been prosecuted
“Norbert was a personal friend of mine. I was in touch with him about the issues he raised in his journalism and I interacted with him on the issues that led to his killing. I participated in his burial. If I become president I will try and get to the bottom of his murder. If there is anything I can do for the truth to be known about what happened to him, I will do it,” Natama told the African News Agency in an interview at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.
The death of Zongo and failure by the Burkinabe law enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators to book has become a rallying point for many civil society organisations in Burkina Faso.
Every two years, journalists, editors and civil society activists gather during the International Festival of Freedom of Speech and Press in Ouagadougou to commemorate the death of Zongo and demand answers.
A writer and former journalist himself, Natama has vowed to guarantee freedom of expression and of the media should he be elected Burkina Faso’s president.
“Restricting media freedom is denying society access to information. We need conditions where people have free access to information and we need to allow our people to express their freedoms and ambitions.
Natama’s AU diplomatic career spanned over 15 years. During this period he played a leading role in several AU peace keeping missions, including Sudan.
He is confident of winning the October presidential elections after being asked by local organisations in Burkina Faso to come back home and run for the presidency.
Burkina Faso has been under military rule since Campaore was overthrown, which has put in place a transitional structure which has been preparing for national elections in October this year.
ANA