Valère Somé

Who is Valère Somé?

Dr. Valère Somé is a politician and scholar from Burkina Faso. Somé was the leader of the Union of Communist Struggles - Reconstructed during the 1980s. He is an Anthropo-Economist, and heads research at the INSS-CNRST.

Entering the revolutionary process of 1983 with the support from the student movement, Somé came to play an important role in the political life of the country during the rule of the Revolutionary National Council led by Thomas Sankara. Somé and another ULC-R leader, Basile Guissou, largely functioned as the 'ideologues' of the revolutionary government.

In January 1985 ULC-R won the elections in the University of Ouagadougou Committee for the Defense of the Revolution. But another faction, the Union of Burkinabè Communists, controlled the university administration through the principal Clément Oumarou Ouedraogo. On 29 August 1986 Somé was named Minister of Higher Education and Research. As a result from the ULC-R/UCB rivalry at the university, the university CDR committee was disbanded on 1 September 1986. Somé faced criticism from within his own organization after taking charge as Minister.

On 9 September 1987 a new government was formed, without Somé. Later the same month, Sankara gave Somé the task of drafting a programme for the unification of the different revolutionary organizations. After the overthrow and assassination of Sankara in 1987, Somé went into exile in Congo-Brazzaville for a period.