Inside the reception room.
A brown-haired, middle-aged man in a black suit sat upright on the sofa. He picked up the teacup beside him and took a light sip. His brow furrowed slightly, but he still swallowed the tea.
He had just set the cup down when Sankara walked into the reception room with a smile.
Sankara walked up to the Soviet ambassador and gave him a big hug before he had even finished standing up.
"Yalikovich, my dear comrade, I'm delighted you could come today!"
That was the truth. Sankara had originally thought the Soviet ambassador would not come until tomorrow at the earliest, or even the day after.
"..."
Yalikovich's pupils contracted. He had noticed how Sankara had addressed him.
Could this be an expression of his political leanings?
That form of address instantly gave Yalikovich plenty to speculate about, so after Sankara released him, he replied:
"You must be joking, Mr. President!"
"I think... we can hardly call ourselves comrades, can we? Friends at most, if you are willing to become friends with us, Mr. President!"
"No!"
Sankara shook his head in denial.
"Perhaps you don't believe it now, but I think time will prove that we are comrades!"
Hearing Sankara's answer, Yalikovich felt certain that his earlier guess had been right.
After a moment of silence.
Rather than pursue that subject, he changed tack and asked:
"Mr. President, you only took office yesterday, yet you contacted me today. Is there something very important you wish to discuss?"
On the surface, he was asking what Sankara wanted.
In reality, however, he was reminding Sankara-
You only just became this country's president. You haven't even secured your seat yet, and you're already rushing to contact us. So whatever you want to discuss, the chances of us reaching an agreement won't be very high!
Sankara also caught the implication in Yalikovich's words.
But he did not mind!
Because he believed that once he laid his bargaining chips on the table, Yalikovich would certainly agree to his request.
"There is indeed something very important!"
Sankara nodded, then gestured for him to sit before continuing:
"I hope your country can provide ours with a low-interest loan of ten billion rubles! Our country will use these ten billion rubles to..."
Before Sankara could finish, Yalikovich interrupted him.
"What!?"
Yalikovich, whose backside had barely touched the sofa, sprang straight back up and stared incredulously at Sankara, who remained calmly seated.
Ten billion rubles!
In that era, especially since the Soviet Union had only recently issued its new ruble, ten billion rubles was already worth roughly eleven billion US dollars internationally!
Converted into North African francs.
That was 1.1 trillion North African francs!
Even ten years of the Republic of Burkina's fiscal revenue might not amount to that much.
And now Sankara was asking for ten billion rubles right off the bat!?
"Mr. President, are you certain you just said ten billion rubles? Not ten billion North African francs?"
Yalikovich almost thought he had misheard and could not help asking for confirmation.
"Of course I mean ten billion rubles!"
Sankara answered with a calm expression.
"..."
Yalikovich fell silent again. Only after a moment did the surprise on his face gradually fade, replaced by a smile, though it was a rather fake one, as if he were merely going through the motions.
"If this is what you invited me here for today, Mr. President, then I don't think there is any need to wait for me to report it to my superiors before giving you an answer. I can give you an answer right now: it is impossible!"
With that, Yalikovich prepared to turn and leave.
"Ten billion rubles is indeed no small sum."
Sankara nodded, but he showed no anxiety over Yalikovich's impending departure and continued unhurriedly:
"But don't you want to hear what I intend to offer in exchange for those ten billion rubles, Mr. Ambassador?"
"..."
Yalikovich had been about to leave.
Hearing Sankara's words, he paused.
After a moment's hesitation, he drew back the foot he had already stepped forward with, turned his gaze back to Sankara, and asked curiously:
"Then what do you intend to offer in exchange for this low-interest loan of ten billion rubles, Mr. President?"
"If I remember correctly, your country currently carries at least two trillion North African francs in debt, doesn't it? Even calculated at the lowest international interest rate of four percent, your annual debt repayments should already push your country's fiscal revenue to its limit, shouldn't they?"
"Unless you intend not to repay that two trillion in debt, Mr. President?"
Yalikovich did not spell out that last remark, but what he meant was obvious.
The vast majority of the Republic of Burkina's debt was owed to the Fourth French Republic.
If Sankara did not intend to repay those debts, did that mean he intended to align himself completely with the Soviet Union and become its pawn in North Africa?
If Sankara intended to do that, Yalikovich believed a low-interest loan of ten billion rubles was not beyond consideration by the Soviet leadership!
"You must be joking, Mr. Ambassador!"
Sankara shook his head and said:
"Our Republic of Burkina is a country that honors its word... at least I, Sankara, am a man who honors his word!"
"Although the debts we currently carry are all historical legacies, I have no intention of refusing to repay them or falling into arrears."
Although he said that, it was not what Sankara thought in his heart.
But until his guns were stronger than the Frenchmen's, he could only hold his nose and grudgingly accept the debts those Frenchmen had forced upon them!
"Since you intend to continue repaying them, Mr. President..."
Yalikovich had just begun to speak when Sankara interrupted him with a very brief statement:
"We have over a million tonnes of uranium ore!"
Originally, Sankara had not intended to reveal exactly how much uranium ore they had, or had intended to reveal half and conceal the other half.
But!
This was Sankara's best and fastest way to break the deadlock.
If he did not give a quantity, or gave too small a figure, and the Soviet Union had no interest at all, that would be the end of it.
If he revealed half and concealed half, the Soviet Union would still agree to a loan, but it might not be as much as ten billion rubles. Moreover, if the Soviet Union discovered it later, the trust between both sides would be gone. In the long run, the losses would outweigh the gains.
So, after thinking it over repeatedly, Sankara ultimately decided to lay his cards on the table. The Soviet Union was so far from the Republic of Burkina anyway!
"???"
Yalikovich froze on the spot. It took quite a while before he came to his senses. Thinking he was hearing things again, he asked incredulously:
"What did you just say?"
"I said that within the borders of our Republic of Burkina, we have proven uranium ore reserves of over a million tonnes!"
Sankara replied with a smile, then, as though something had occurred to him, added:
"Although nearly half of those reserves lie in territory controlled by anti-government forces."
"But I think that as long as your country is willing to provide this low-interest loan of ten billion rubles, it will only be a matter of time before we retake the land controlled by those anti-government forces!"
That was right!
Although Sankara had seized power in the Republic of Burkina through a military coup, he did not actually control the country's entire territory.
At least a third of its land remained under the control of a dozen or so anti-government armed groups of varying sizes.
This was not because of Sankara, nor was it the fault of the previous presidents.
Rather... it was a legacy of history!
To put it plainly, the Fourth French Republic had caused it. Those anti-government armed groups were, for the most part, backed by them from behind the scenes!
Their purpose was to prevent the Republic of Burkina from escaping their control.
One previous president had wanted to break free of the Fourth French Republic's control.
In the end...
Anti-government forces had cut off his head and hung it from a tree.