Chérif Sy

Chérif Moumina Sy (born 17 May 1960) is a Mauritanian-born Burkinabé politician who served as the transitional Head of Parliament from 2014 to 2015.

Biography

Journalism career Sy is the son of army general Baba Sy, who participated in the 1983 revolution that brought Thomas Sankara to power. Sankara was killed in 1987, during the coup that brought Blaise Compaoré to power. The younger Sy moved to Paris and headed the Committee for Defense of the Revolution. During this time, Sy was a journalist and founded and edited the Sankarist newspaper Bendre. In March 2013, he was re-elected chief of the Society of Editors of the Private Press.

President of the National Transitional Council Sy played an important role in the popular demonstrations that deposed Compaoré in 2014. Michel Kafando was chosen as president in November 2014 by a panel of 23 officials, over Joséphine Ouédraogo and Sy. He became President of the National Transitional Council of Burkina Faso on 27 November. He defeated his main challenger, Ibrahim Koné by a 71 to 14 vote. In this role, Sy passed a range of reforms, such as revoking the death penalty, which had been used against journalists, including his friend Norbert Zongo. Sy also sponsored a law on the right of access to information. His most controversial law amended the electoral code, preventing former officials from the Compaoré regime from running in elections. A subsequent coup attempt cited this law as one of their foremost objections to the existing government. He soon published a statement saying that dialogue was under-way between the military leadership and the "elements of the RSP" responsible for the coup, and noted that the country was in danger. Sy was a critic of the coup from the start. Known for his firmness of manner, he condemned an agreement proposed in the Economic Community of West African States by both African mediators, Senegalese President Macky Sall and Benin's Yayi Boni, that would allow the former supporters of Blaise Compaoré to compete in elections and offer amnesty to the perpetrators of the coup. He has been characterized as "a Sankarist through and through." In 2018, he was appointed as Minister of Defense, focused on anti-terrorist operations. He was dismissed from that position in 2021, after a wave of terror attacks in the country.