Famous citizens of Burkina Faso • Joseph Ki-Zerbo (born on 21 June 1922 at Toma): A Burkinabe politician and one of the greatest historians of the African continent. An emblematic figure of the struggle for independence and Nobel Prize winner for his research on original models of development. Elected as a Member of Parliament of the National Liberation Movement in 1970, he stood for the first presidential elections of Upper Volta in 1978 but was eliminated in the first round. • Captain Thomas Sankara (1949-1987): Promoter of the cause of women, defender of the debt cancellation and promoter of self-sufficiency, he was president of Faso from 1984 to 1987. • Gaston Kaboré (born in 1951 in Bobo-Dioulasso): A famous cinema director, he won several international prizes, including the César. • Idrissa Ouédraogo (born on 21 January 1954 in Banfora): A famous cinema director and graduate from the Institut Africain d’Etudes Cinématographiques of Ouagadougou, Ouédraogo won the Special Prize of the Jury of Cannes in 1990, the prize of the Special Jury of FESPACO in 1991, and the Étalon de Yenenga prize for his Tilaï (1990). The most popular of his films are Yaaba (1989) and Tilaï (1990). • Irissa Kaboré, called the ‘Caïd’: A new world champion in the super-welters category of the International Boxing Federation (May 2008). • Nabaloum Dramane, called the ‘Boum-Boum’: International ‘featherweight’ category of the World Boxing Council in 1996. champion of the Sources: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Burkina-Faso-FAMOUS-BURKINABE.html http://www.rfo.fr/article252.html http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/04/ouedraogo.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Kabor%C3%A9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sankara http://www.primature.gov.bf/actualite/document.php?id1=526 http://www.africatime.com/Burkina/nouvelle.asp?no_nouvelle=355391 xxxi