The Revolutionary Military Organization (French: Organisation Militaire Révolutionnaire, abbreviated OMR) was a political faction within the Burkina Faso Armed Forces.
The young progressive officers Sankara and Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani authored anonymous tracts using names as Le Roc and Arête.
It has largely been attributed that ROC was short for Rassemblement des officiers communistes ('Communist Officers Grouping'), but this hypothesis has been rejected by ex-ROC members who argue that the name was just the French word for 'rock'.
[2] During the 1981-1983 period the ROC military officers were linked to the African Independence Party (PAI) and the ex-Union of Communist Struggles (ULC) faction led by Valère Somé.
[1] During exile of Sankara, Compaoré and Zongo, ROC elements - military officers such as Pierre Ouédraogo, Laurent Sedego and Jean-Claude Kamboulé - maintained the organizational network of the group active inside Upper Volta.
After some internal debate ROC joined CSP military junta government and voted for Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo to become president at a meeting held November 13, 1982.
Compaoré argued that he himself should become president, as he had been the main leader of the uprising - commanding the troops garrisoned at Pô and freeing Sankara from house arrest.
The Ouédraogo-led faction opposed Compaoré's bid for the presidency citing the fierce opposition towards the latter from the other forces that had carried out the revolution - the PAI and the ex-ULC elements.
[1] During the early period of the new regime some twenty military officers took part in the National Revolutionary Council (CNR) meetings, all belonging to the OMR.
At meeting Sankara presented new statues for OMR which framed it as "political-military organization which participates in the exercise of state power within the National Revolutionary Council".