Chapter Summaries

Ahro Sankara seized the Presidential Palace in the Republic of Burkina and discovered that his National GDP Development System had activated. After addressing the nation, he promised to build a country where everyone had food, clothing, and work.

• Ahro Sankara’s forces killed the last defenders at the Presidential Palace, and he condemned the former president for spending 1.5 billion North African francs on it.
• Ahro Sankara entered the palace with his officers, triggering the National GDP Development System.
• Ahro Sankara saw a system panel identifying Thomas Meyev as a loyal major and learned the broadcasting equipment was ready.
• Ahro Sankara addressed the citizens by radio, promising enough food, warm clothes, and jobs for everyone, and proclaimed, “Long live the newborn Republic of Burkina!”

After becoming president of the Republic of Burkina, Sankara discovered that the country possessed vast, precisely mapped mineral reserves, including 1.5 million tonnes of gold ore. He resolved to find a way to mine the resources and build military strength, and considered seeking help from the Soviet Union for Burkina’s uranium.

• Sankara ordered Meyev to summon the people on his list to the presidential palace conference hall the next morning.
• Sankara opened the National GDP Development System panel and saw Burkina’s economic figures and its mineral reserves.
• Sankara realized the listed gold reserves far exceeded the known deposits and that the system could reveal their locations.
• Sankara worried that France would pressure Burkina into surrendering its resources, but concluded that the country urgently needed to mine the gold to escape debt and poverty.
• Sankara decided Burkina needed a powerful armed force before mining the gold and considered asking the Soviet Union for weapons and assistance in exchange for access to uranium.

Sankara convened senior government officials the day after taking power and announced his plans to curb corruption and restructure the government. The meeting ended with his reforms still underway as he began reorganizing national security.

• Government officials arrived at the presidential compound before Sankara’s eight o’clock meeting.
• Sankara used the system to inspect the officials’ loyalty, found that four scored below fifty, and decided to watch them closely.
• Sankara eased the tense atmosphere with a joke, then warned officials against stealing from the nation.
• Sankara announced plans to establish the Ministry of National Education and Literacy and the Ministry of Industrial Planning and Development.
• Sankara said he would dissolve the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Security and reorganize it into the National Security Committee.

Sankara paused a government meeting to receive French ambassador Adrian, who pressed him to honor treaties that heavily favored France. Sankara publicly promised to uphold the agreements while privately resolving to confront France over its 98 years of exploitation.

• Meyev interrupted Sankara's meeting to announce that the French ambassador had arrived, and Sankara adjourned the gathering to meet him.
• Adrian complained about the tea while waiting, then greeted Sankara warmly when he entered the reception room.
• Adrian urged Sankara to preserve the treaties signed by the Republic of Burkina's previous presidents so relations with France would remain friendly.
• Sankara assured Adrian that he would honor the treaties and could sign more, despite recognizing that France's military strength left Burkina with little choice.
• Sankara and Adrian exchanged promises of lasting friendship, while Sankara privately resolved to confront France over the country's long history of exploitation.

After signing a humiliating treaty with the French ambassador, Sankara vowed to make France pay and assessed how he could use his loyalty system and Burkina Faso’s uranium to secure support from rival superpowers. The Soviet ambassador arrived, and Sankara hurried to meet him.

• Adrian left with the treaty Sankara had signed, and Sankara told Meyev he would make France pay a hundredfold.
• Sankara considered using his ability to judge citizens’ loyalty to stabilize his government and prevent coups.
• Sankara identified Burkina Faso’s 1.05 million tons of uranium and its strategic position as leverage with the Red Giant Bear and the White Giant Eagle.
• Meyev told Sankara that the Soviet ambassador had arrived, and Sankara went to meet him.

Sankara asked Soviet ambassador Yalikovich for a low-interest loan of ten billion rubles, then revealed that the Republic of Burkina had over a million tonnes of proven uranium ore reserves. Yalikovich reconsidered the request as Sankara offered the reserves as leverage, despite much of the territory being held by anti-government forces backed by the Fourth French Republic.

• Sankara greeted Yalikovich as a comrade, prompting the ambassador to suspect Sankara was signaling political alignment with the Soviet Union.
• Sankara requested a low-interest loan of ten billion rubles, and Yalikovich initially rejected the sum as impossible.
• Yalikovich questioned how Burkina could repay the loan while burdened by existing debts, and Sankara said he would honor them.
• Sankara revealed that Burkina had over a million tonnes of proven uranium ore reserves and said Soviet support would help retake territory held by anti-government forces.
• Yalikovich learned that nearly half the uranium reserves lay in areas controlled by groups backed by the Fourth French Republic, which had previously helped overthrow a president who tried to break free of its control.

Sankara secured Soviet interest in Burkina’s uranium reserves, then learned that Makru Shengdido and other officials were plotting against him. He ordered Baror Kroko to execute them before dawn.

• Sankara assured Yalikovich that Burkina had over a million tonnes of uranium ore, and Yalikovich promised Soviet experts would verify the reserves.
• Soviet officials reacted with excitement to the news and decided to send experts to Burkina.
• Makru Shengdido and other officials discussed Sankara’s plans and feared losing their positions, while Shengdido threatened to retaliate against the president.
• Sankara signed an execution list bearing Makru Shengdido’s name and gave it to Baror Kroko.
• Sankara ordered Kroko not to let the listed officials see the next morning’s sun.

French intelligence officials learned that Sankara had executed forty-six officials, including their agents, and decided to replace him with a more obedient president. Three days after taking power, Sankara met with senior military officers and prepared to announce major military policies.

• The North African Strategic Intelligence Bureau received news that Sankara had executed forty-six government officials, including Makru Shengdido and Weike'er Clinton.
• The Bureau's director concluded that Sankara would not obey France and called for his removal and replacement.
• Sankara had ordered the executions because he considered the officials disloyal, unaware that France had backed them.
• On November 8, three days after his coup, Sankara entered a meeting with senior military officers, who addressed him as General.
• Sankara told the officers to call him President and convened the meeting to announce major military policies.

Sankara announced plans to expand the army and raise pay for soldiers and public workers, despite the government’s dire finances. Compaoré objected but left after Sankara insisted he had a way to fund the increases without revealing his source.

• Sankara announced that the Dugagu Brigade and Wagaar Brigade would be expanded into two divisions and six brigades.
• Sankara presented a new rank-based military pay scale, and the officers reacted with excitement when they saw the raises.
• Sankara said the new pay scale would apply to all units, and he anticipated that the increases would raise soldiers’ loyalty to him.
• Compaoré warned Sankara that the government could barely pay its existing salaries and could not afford raises for soldiers, officials, police officers, and teachers.
• Sankara acknowledged the government’s financial crisis but said he had the backing to fund the increases and would explain the source later.
• Compaoré took the new pay-scale documents and left, privately doubting Sankara could deliver the promised money.

Sankara sought Soviet financing by offering uranium deposits as collateral, while skeptics at home mocked his promised salary raises. The Soviet Union agreed to provide an interest-free loan of ten billion rubles, and Sankara accepted its conditions to use part of the funds on Soviet goods and uranium-mining equipment.

• News spread that Sankara would raise salaries for soldiers, officials, police officers, and teachers, while his opponents mocked the promise and doubted the treasury could pay.
• After Soviet experts arrived, Sankara gave Meyev a document containing the coordinates of the largest uranium deposits to deliver to Ambassador Yalikovich.
• Soviet officials confirmed that nearly five hundred thousand tonnes of uranium lay in territory controlled by Sankara's government and agreed to a ten-billion-ruble interest-free loan.
• Yalikovich told Sankara that seven billion rubles had to be spent on Soviet products, while the remaining three billion could be used freely; Sankara agreed.
• Yalikovich asked Sankara to use some of the loan to buy Soviet uranium-mining equipment and begin extraction, and Sankara agreed to start mining and exporting ore.

After securing a ten-billion-ruble interest-free loan from the Soviet Union, Sankara proposed investing fifty billion North African francs in a nationwide school-building program. Minister Augustin Traoré supported the goal but warned that schools would need subsidies and incentives to attract students and teachers.

• Sankara agreed to the Soviet Union’s uranium-backed loan conditions, and three billion rubles were transferred to him while the rest went into a dedicated account.
• Sankara decided to spend fifty billion North African francs over ten years on a thousand primary schools, a hundred junior high schools, twenty senior high schools, and two universities.
• Augustin Traoré was shocked to learn that Sankara could fund the plan with part of the Soviet loan.
• Traoré warned that families might keep children working instead of sending them to school and that the country might lack teachers.
• Traoré proposed using ten billion North African francs to build fewer schools and the remaining forty billion for free tuition, meals, and scholarships.

Sankara gave Traoré control of a 50-billion-franc education budget and challenged him to establish a university with at least a thousand students within ten years. He then asked Health Minister Robert Lucide to plan nationwide child vaccinations and safer childbirth, leaving Lucide to ask how much funding was available.

• Sankara admitted his education plan was too idealistic and gave Traoré final authority over the 50-billion-franc budget, requiring a university within ten years.
• Traoré promised that Sankara would give a speech at the university’s freshman welcoming ceremony ten years later, and Sankara joked that he would prepare his speech.
• Sankara summoned Robert Lucide and proposed free vaccinations for children under twelve, prenatal and childbirth equipment, and specialized training for local medical staff.
• Lucide asked Sankara how much money the proposed health fund would contain.

Sankara promised Lucide ten billion North African francs to fund free vaccinations for children and better care for pregnant women, then revealed the Soviet loan financing it. Lucide prepared to draft a proposal, while Sankara reconsidered his belief that he alone was working to save the Republic of Burkina.

• Sankara promised Lucide at least ten billion North African francs for children's vaccinations and maternal care, raising Lucide's loyalty to 81.
• Lucide questioned where the money would come from, briefly lowering his loyalty, and Sankara revealed the interest-free ten-billion-ruble Soviet loan secured by uranium deposits and purchasing rights.
• Lucide calculated the loan's value at one trillion one hundred billion North African francs and promised Sankara a detailed proposal by the end of the next day.
• Lucide explained that he had brought documents to argue against cuts to the Ministry of Health's budget, believing Sankara might use it to cover increased payroll costs.
• Sankara realized that people like Lucide also cared deeply about their country and resolved to change his sense that he alone could save it.

Sankara arranged for Soviet weapons, equipment, and military trainers to reach the landlocked Republic of Burkina while recruiting soldiers to expand its army. In a Dugagu slum, Aaron decided to join the army so he could gain power and change the country.

• Lucide saw the sunlight gild the villa, wondered if the people’s awaited leader had appeared, and walked toward the presidential palace.
• Soviet tanks, armored vehicles, and officers arrived at the Port of Odessa for shipment to an unnamed buyer.
• Katelai told Sankara that the weapons and trainers were expected to reach Dugagu in eight days, and Sankara ordered him to ensure their safe arrival.
• Katelai reported that more than twenty thousand of the thirty thousand recruits needed for the army expansion had been enlisted.
• Aaron told William he could not afford to continue his education and wanted to join the army to gain power and change the country.

After Sankara made up the six months of unpaid wages left by the previous president, Burkina’s municipal officials celebrated and pledged loyalty to him. The chapter ended with a furious official confronting someone who entered his office without permission.

• Officials in Dugagu City Hall speculated about how Sankara had spent a large sum of money and worried whether their promised raises and salaries would arrive.
• A man told the officials that the Finance Bureau was distributing last month’s pay, so they crowded into its corridors to collect their wages.
• An official discovered that his pay included the six months of wages the previous president had withheld and announced that Sankara had repaid them.
• The officials erupted in celebration and praised Sankara, with many declaring their loyalty to him.
• Officials returned to their office and joked about being Sankara’s most loyal dog or hound.
• Someone entered an official’s office, and the official angrily demanded to know who had authorized it and ordered the intruder out.

Gilbert Yaméogo was arrested for treason in Burkina, and the surrounding officials sided with Sankara rather than believe his warnings of a political purge. In France, the North African Strategic Intelligence Bureau blamed an apparent leak for the exposure of its agents and decided to back anti-government forces to overthrow Sankara.

• A young officer arrested Gilbert Yaméogo on a Supreme Court warrant, and soldiers dragged him from his office.
• Yaméogo claimed Sankara had fabricated the treason charge and warned that others would be arrested next, but the officials around him rejected his claims and supported the president.
• The director of the North African Strategic Intelligence Bureau accused his staff of allowing Sankara to identify and execute all twenty-three French agents and ordered them to explain the breach within a week.
• The director concluded that Sankara would not obey France and ordered the bureau to support Burkina’s anti-government forces, start a civil war, and overthrow Sankara.

The Alliance for National Liberation and Progress launched a surprise attack on Nijia, plunging the city into battle as government forces failed to respond. Sankara called an emergency meeting, while Nijia’s police decided they had to resist the rebels themselves.

• The Alliance for National Liberation and Progress shelled Nijia and began advancing into the city.
• Katelai informed Sankara that Nijia was under attack and that the Vidal Brigade could not be reached.
• Sankara ordered all senior military officers to gather at the Ministry of National Defense.
• Nijia’s police fought the rebels with limited weapons while their officers failed to contact the Vidal Brigade.
• The police chief and older officers urged the younger officers to take up arms and fight the National Liberation Alliance to the last moment.

As the National Liberation Alliance attacked Nijia and the Vidal Brigade vanished, Sankara treated the crisis as a chance to bring independent military forces under his control. He ordered newly reorganized brigades and four veteran units to reinforce Nijia, leaving officers to suspect he was setting the veteran brigades up for disaster.

• Military officers reported that the Vidal Brigade had gone unreachable and that the Aksang Brigade had ignored orders to reinforce Nijia.
• Sankara judged that the Vidal Brigade had probably defected or suffered a failure among its senior officers, but focused on using the crisis to consolidate military authority.
• Sankara rejected the claim that Nijia’s fall was inevitable and ordered the Dugagu Division’s 1st Light Armored Brigade and 2nd Infantry Brigade and the Vagar Division’s 4th Light Armored Brigade and 5th Infantry Brigade to reinforce it.
• Sankara ordered the Aksang, Drago, Ailidun, and Duojialong Brigades to join the relief effort as its main force and promised each brigade one billion North African francs.
• Several officers suspected Sankara’s orders were intended to put the four veteran brigades in grave danger.

The Aksang Brigade and three other brigades set out to reinforce Nijia after a billion North African francs was transferred to Aksang’s account. In the forest, Krov chose to return to Nijia with the few survivors who trusted him, while some soldiers abandoned the group.

• The Aksang Brigade commander refused to respond to the Ministry of National Defense’s orders until a telegram revealed that a billion North African francs had been transferred and promised another billion after the siege was lifted.
• The Aksang Brigade, Drago Brigade, Ailidun Brigade, and Duojialong Brigade ordered their forces to reinforce Nijia.
• Krov’s group counted only 397 survivors from the more than a thousand who had escaped, and an officer accused Keluofu of selling out their brigade to the National Liberation Alliance.
• Krov announced he would return to Nijia because his family was there, and one officer left with more than a dozen soldiers.
• The remaining officers and soldiers followed Krov toward Nijia, calling for him to wait.

Nijia was engulfed in fighting as police, doctors, and civilians faced mounting casualties and destruction. Old William tried to steady the police response after Street 213 fell, then received a call from Mayor Jerk, who had apparently not evacuated.

• Snow fell over Nijia as a mortar shell destroyed graffiti depicting a little girl dreaming of a beautiful future.
• Militants advanced through combat zones while civilians, including women, were killed and abused in the occupied zone.
• A blood-covered doctor at Nijia Public Hospital was called to operate on critically wounded patients from the front line.
• A policewoman told Old William that Street 213 had fallen and the northern defensive line might collapse.
• Old William ordered the Third SWAT Squadron sent to the north, then regretted having deployed so many officers in the east.
• Mayor Jerk called Old William, who asked why the mayor had not left Nijia.