Gabriel Somé Yorian was the architect of a military coup against Colonel Saye Zerbo, as the then head of the army of Burkina Faso. He did not himself assume power, but allowed Major Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo to take over.
Yorian was killed later on in another coup launched by Captain Thomas Sankara.
The 1982 Upper Voltan coup d'état took place in the Republic of Upper Volta (today Burkina Faso) on 7 November 1982. The coup, led by Colonel Gabriel Somé Yorian and a slew of other junior officers within the military, many of them political radicals, overthrew the regime of Colonel Saye Zerbo. Zerbo had previously taken power just under two years prior to his own downfall.
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