Burkina Faso

Overview of Burkina Faso

  • Burkina Faso has a population reaching almost 20 million people and is grappling with a progressive deterioration of its security and humanitarian situation due to terrorist attacks that have caused the displacement of almost half a million people within the country.
  • Burkina Faso’s real GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2020, compared with an increase of 5.7% in 2019, caused mainly by a slowdown in activity in trade, transport, tourism, and hotels, much of it the result of measures taken to contain the spread of COVID–19.
  • Burkina Faso’s traditional cultures are best sampled in its two largest cities: the fabulously named capital, Ouagadougou (also known as “Ouaga”) and the second city of Bobo-Dioolasso (simply referred to as “Bobo”).
  • Burkina Faso is a resource-poor, landlocked country whose struggling economy is heavily dependent on rainfed agriculture to support a massively expanding population amidst successive waves of floods and droughts.
  • Burkina Faso’s government said on Thursday that it was open to holding talks with Islamist militants, a position embraced by its neighbours in the Sahel region where terrorist attacks are recurrent.
  • Burkina Faso, which means "land of honest men", has significant reserves of gold, but the country has faced domestic and external concern over the state of its economy and human rights.
  • Burkina Faso has made important progress in improving the business climate, including improving business registration, strengthening land property laws, and establishing commercial courts.
  • Burkina Faso
    formed the Volunteer Force for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) a year ago
    to bolster efforts by vigilante groups operating in the volatile northern and
    eastern regions.
  • Burkina Faso might not suit first time travellers, but for hardy adventurers this is a destination in which to veer off the tourist trail and discover the hidden gems of West Africa.
  • Burkina Faso remained among the ranks of the mostly unfree in 2021, three years after the economy had briefly touched the moderately free category in 2018.
  • Population

    Although agriculture is the primary source of revenue for the country and the main livelihood for more than 80 percent of the population, Burkina Faso is a food deficit country and more than 40 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

    Ahead of Sahel summit, where do France and G5 countries stand?

    France expected to announce Barkhane troop drawdown as Sahel leaders increasingly mull negotiations with armed groups.

    How we’re helping in Burkina Faso?

    In early January 2019, violent clashes in Yirgou in the north of Burkina Faso forced thousands of people to flee.The violence, involving both communal and religious armed groups, quickly escalated.Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams, who were already in the Sahel region to support emergency rooms and operating theaters in the medical facilities of Gorom-Gorom and Djibo, rapidly responded in Barsalogho and Foubé in central Burkina Faso, providing basic health care for host communities and displaced people.

    Did You Know?

    Burkina Faso has many different types of terrain.The north part of the country is covered in desert, while the southwest is woodland and savanna.

    Is a new strategy needed to fight armed groups in the Sahel?

    France considers reducing troop numbers as fighting worsens.

    How has Burkina Faso changed since the ‘insurrection’?

    Burkinabes go to the polls on Sunday as the country faces an escalating humanitarian and economic crisis.

    What is behind the sharp drop in deaths in Burkina Faso’s war?

    Decline raises many questions, especially since the number of violent incidents has remained the same.

    What is behind the sharp drop in deaths in Burkina Faso’s war?

    Decline raises many questions, especially since the number of violent incidents has remained the same.

    Why is intervention needed?

    The Sahel is home to some of the world’s most vulnerable yet most resistant communities.Here, widespread drought, land degradation and desertification have swept through the region, changing the landscape drastically and bringing with it severe famine, poverty, food insecurity and sinking water levels.Despite it’s dry, barren appearance, the area receives enough rain for trees to grow.However, the soils are so dry that water cannot penetrate and so is baked off by the sun before it can be absorbed.This means hardly anything can grow and desertification ensues.

    What is happening in Burkina Faso?

    Civilians were caught up in clashes between armed groups and the security forces, particularly in the Sahel region bordering Mali, where thousands were forced to flee their homes.In the capital, Ouagadougou, coordinated attacks were launched on the French embassy and Burkina Faso’s military headquarters, leaving 30 people dead.Learn how you can best help in Burkina Faso and other countries.

    History of Burkina Faso

  • In 1896, Burkina Faso became a French protectorate.
  • In 1898, the invading French found the village a suitable location for a military base and in 1905 the city, located in a stable region, became the capital of the Territoire Militaire du Niger (Military Territory of Niger).
  • In 1911, the capital was transferred to the newly-stable and more hospitable location at Zinder.
  • In 1919 the French made Ouagadougou the capital of the Upper Volta territory (basically the same area as contemporary Burkina Faso).
  • In 1943 the French resistance movement under Charles de Gaulle captured control over all of French West Africa and was grateful for African support against the Vichy regime.
  • In 1946, all French West Africans were granted French citizenship.
  • In 1954 the railroad line from Ivory Coast reached the city.
  • In 1960, Dahomey gained full independence from France, and had a tumultuous period with many different democratic governments, many military coups and military governments.
  • In 1962, CRS expanded its mandate, providing education assistance, especially school feeding.
  • In 1984, Upper Volta changed its name to Burkina Faso, meaning “the country of honorable people.”
  • In 1986, the Azawakh was finally recognized for the unique animal it is, when FCI dropped the word “Sloughi” from the name.
  • In 1991, dictator Moussa Traor was overthrown, and Mali made a peaceful transition to democracy.
  • In 1991, it was replaced by the current multi-party Republic of Benin.5
  • In 1992, Alpha Konar became Mali’s first democratically elected president.
  • In 1992, the Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program began working with the government of Burkina Faso and other international organizations to eliminate Guinea worm disease from the more than 600 endemic communities in that country.
  • In 1996, they were finally recognized to run in the newly created Miscellaneous stake.
  • In 1997, a mixed parti-color and sand litter, which had been bred in Mali, was whelped in Alaska.
  • In 2000, the Government of Burkina Faso classified 15,000 kilometers of road as part of the national road network managed under the Ministry of Infrastructures Transport and Housing (MITH) through the Directorate of Roads (DGR).
  • In 2002, there were a total of 12,506 kilometres (7,771 mi) of highway in Burkina Faso, of which 2,001 kilometres (1,243 mi) are paved.[2]
  • In 2006, an Indian proposal surfaced to link the railways in Benin and Togo with landlocked Niger and Burkina Faso.
  • In 2010, almost 80% of the cotton planted in Burkina Faso was grown from genetically modified seeds.
  • In 2012, the United Nations Human Development Index ranked Burkina Faso as number 183 out of 187 countries.
  • In 2015, Burkinabe courts had issued an international arrest for Compaore, but Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara has prevented his extradition back to Burkina Faso despite an extradition treaty between the two countries.
  • In 2015, the United States Institute of Peace launched an initiative in Saaba, a small community in the West African country of Burkina Faso, where tensions were rising between informal security groups and the police.
  • In 2019, Burkina Faso experienced an unprecedented increase in humanitarian needs.
  • In 2019, Burkina Faso GDP was an estimated $14.6 billion (current market exchange rates); real GDP was up by an estimated 6.0%; and the population was 20 million.
  • In 2019, Burkina Faso made a minimal advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.
  • In 2019, Burkina Faso was one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the world.
  • In 2019, criminal law enforcement agencies in Burkina Faso took actions to combat child labor (Table 7).
  • In 2019, research found no evidence that law enforcement agencies in Burkina Faso took actions to combat child labor (Table 6).
  • In 2019, violent attacks claimed almost 2,190 lives, 60% of whom were civilians.
  • In 2019, Togo made a minimal advancement in its efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.
  • In 2020 only, more than 287,000 people have been newly displaced (figures as of August 2020), with no sign of a slowdown of the trend.
  • In 2020, the EU is supporting humanitarian action in Burkina Faso with €24.8 million.
  • In the 1960s, Mali concentrated on economic development, continuing to accept aid from both Soviet bloc and Western nations, as well as international agencies.
  • In the 1970s the breed was taken to Yugoslavia by Dr.
  • On 2 January 2021 armed men, allegedly affiliated with an Islamist armed group, launched coordinated assaults on two villages in the Tillabéri region of Niger, killing at least 105 civilians, including 17 children.
  • On 2 August 1984,[7] on President Sankara’s initiative, the country’s name was changed from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso (land of the upright/honest people).[8][9][10]The presidential decree was confirmed by the National Assembly on 4 August.
  • On 3 December 2009, an aide shot Camara during a dispute over the rampage in September.
  • On 7 August 1960, Côte d’Ivoire gained total independence.