[5] She met Captain Blaise Compaoré, at the time serving as Minister of State for Justice of Burkina Faso, on 15 January 1985, when the young military officer visited the Ivorian capital Abidjan and President Houphouët-Boigny.

Compaoré had been a part of the Burkinabé government for one and a half years, since he launched a military coup against Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo in what was then the Republic of Upper Volta on 4 August 1983 together with other members of the "Communist Officer's Group".

According to most sources, the marriage had been arranged in one way or another by President Houphouët-Boigny, who wanted an ally within the revolutionary left-wing government of Burkina Faso, with which he frequently clashed at the time.

Not long afterwards, Désirée "Daisy" Delafosse – the widow of Adolphus Tolbert, "foster-sister" of Chantal and god-daughter of President Houphouët-Boigny – arrived in Burkina Faso.

On 28 October 2014, after President Compaoré tried to lift the constitutional limit on his presidential terms ahead of the coming election in 2014, the 2014 Burkinabé uprising broke out.

Mass protests erupted once more, partially inspired by the memory of Thomas Sankara, with the military eventually deciding to take charge of the situation.

It was then reported that a heavily armed convoy believed to be carrying Compaoré was traveling towards the southern town of Pô, where he had started the 1983 military coup.

[21] Soon after their arrival, Radio France Internationale managed to arrange a first interview with Chantal Compaoré following her departure from Burkina Faso, held during a secret meeting.