Language: French, regional languages
Currency: West African CFA franc (XOF)
Calling Code: 226
Burkina Faso, translated Land of Sincere Man, is a landlocked West
African state located south of the Niger Arc and bordering Mali, Niger,
Benin, Togo, Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The country gained its
independence on August 5, 1960. Until August 4, 1984, the name Republic
of Upper Volta (French: République de Haute-Volta), which it received
during its time as a French colony, was used. The Pan-African
socialist-oriented President Thomas Sankara, who had gained power in a
coup in 1983 after a period of political instability, had the country
renamed.
The administrative and cultural capital of the country,
which has a population of around 20.1 million[5], is the centrally
located metropolis of Ouagadougou. The predominantly flat landlocked
country with shares in the greater landscape of Sudan and the Sahel is
characterized by a tropical climate and various savannah landscapes.
About half of the Burkinians (Burkinabe) belong to the politically
dominant ethnic group of the Mossi, who lived in several strictly
hierarchically organized empires until colonization by France at the end
of the 19th century. About 60 indigenous languages are spoken in Burkina
Faso. In addition to traditional beliefs, Islam is the most practiced
religion. Burkina Faso has long been one of the poorest countries in the
world, but after the revolution it was characterized for a long time by
a certain stability and the peaceful coexistence of the ethnic groups
represented in the population. Regularly recurring droughts often cause
great hardship for the population, who live mainly as farmers.
After a coup against the incumbent government under the elected
president Roch Marc Kaboré on January 24, 2022, the military under the
leadership of Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba took power in Burkina Faso. On
September 30, 2022, Damiba, for his part, was overthrown by rival
military officers under Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who sympathize with
Russia. Parts of the country are under the control of jihadists
belonging to the terrorist organizations Islamic State or al-Qaeda.
For tourist purposes, the country can be divided into four zones,
outside the capital:
(Since 2015, the French government has been
talking about a 50-60 km wide border strip with Mali and Niger as a
rouge zone, which should be avoided in any case because of the risk of
kidnapping.)
The north, part of the desert-like Sahel zone, with
the cities of Ouahigouya and Dori. Gorom-Gorom is gateway to the Sahel,
its market is very well known.
The west, with the provinces around
Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city, beautiful old town, pleasant
climate. Mare aux Hippopotames, about 60 km north of Bobo is a Ramsar
sanctuary for hippos. In the northern part is Dedougou, towards Ivory
Coast is Gaoua.
Center with Ouagadugu, Koudougou, Manga and Kaya.
Close to the border is the Réserve de Nazinga, a breeding program for
wild animals founded by two Canadians in 1979. Here you have the best
opportunity to observe elephants right in front of the hut. The UN has
improved the reserve. You need an off-road vehicle. The hunters were
separated from the normal tourists. It is not far from Tiébélé, the
heart of the Kassena with its famous architecture. The Kaboré Tambi
National Park is south of the capital.
To the southeast, Fada
N'gourma is a provincial capital on the road to Niamey. In the border
area with Benin, the Arly National Park has been designated. It is
connected to the W National Park, about 300 lions live here.
Loropéni are fairly well preserved ancient ruins lost in an African jungle of Burkina Faso.
Requirements before travelling
The visa for
Burkina Faso can still be obtained in advance at the embassy in the
respective country. Since February 2023 there is also the possibility to
apply for this online.
Citizens of the Schengen area can obtain a
7-21 days valid, renewable visa at the airport in Ouagadougou. At 94,000
CFA, it was about twice as expensive as an exhibition in Berlin in 2018.
A yellow fever vaccination certificate is always prescribed.
Consular Section of the Embassy of Burkina Faso in Germany,
Karolingerplatz 10-11, 14052 Berlin (Charlottenburg). Tel.: +49 30
30105990, E-Mail: office@ambaburkina.de . Processing time 3-5 working
days. Only short-stay visas are issued, the validity period of which may
not exceed ninety days (those who stay longer must extend in the
country). A visa is granted to any foreigner who travels to Burkina Faso
for tourist, business or family reasons. Documents, including a medical
certificate of health, must be translated into French. Also responsible
for the residents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Open:
Acceptance of applications Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri. 9.00-12.00, Pick-up until
16.00. Price: per visa category on the website, tourists from € 51,
business trips from € 118.
Consular Department of the Permanent
Mission of Burkina Faso to the International Organizations in Austria,
Strohgasse 14c/5, 1030 Vienna (in the same building as the German
Embassy; flags over the door). Tel.: +43 1 5038264. The officially
listed website is dead, probably they don't have one right now, so it's
better to visit it in person. The three honorary consuls in Austria are
not allowed to issue any visual endorsements. The administrative area
also includes Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Open:
Mon-Fri 9:00-13:00 and 14:00-16:00.
Consular Section of the
Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the UN in Switzerland, Avenue de
France 23, 1202 Genève (Tram 15: Maison de la Paix). Tel.: +41 22
7346330, E-Mail: service.consulaire@missionburkinafaso-ch.org . Open:
Application: Mon, Wed and Fri 11:30-12:30; Pick-up: Mon, Thu
16.00-17.00. Price: 106 CHF (one-time entry up to 90 days), other visa
categories and account details for fee payment on the website.
Customs regulation
Hunting weapons require an import permit.
Free quantities over 15 years:
200 Cigarettes or 100 cigarillos
or 25 Cigars or 250 g of tobacco
1 Bottle of Wine and 1 bottle of
brandy
¼ l perfume or ½ l cologne water
Aircraft
From
Ouagadougou Airport there are flights to Paris-CDG. The flights are
rarely direct, but mostly via Niamey (Niger) or via Casablanca
(Morocco). It will also be flown from Brussels. The airport of
Ouagadougou is located close to the city center. Although the airport in
Bobo-Dioulasso is also considered international. But flights from Europe
arrive only in the capital.
Subway
There are two trains per
week to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast over 1260 km (Abidjan ↔ Bobo
Dioulasso 818 km, Bobo Dioulasso ↔ Ouagadougou 379 km). The
concessionaire is the company Sitarail. The trip, there is only one
class, costs 30000 CFA and usually takes well over 36 hours. An
improvement of the metre gauge line has been planned since 2017.
Bus
On the outskirts of major cities there are bus stations operated
by large transport companies for long-distance travelers. This is
reflected in the price accordingly, but these are then coaches with air
conditioning and food on board. The big coaches usually leave on time.
There is a kind of booking system that ensures that you also get a seat.
Car/Motorcycle/Bicycle
Fuels and prices are controlled by the
monopolist SONABHY, from which authorized resellers must purchase all
types of mineral oil. In 2018, a liter of gasoline cost about 650 CFA,
diesel was slightly cheaper for 560 CFA.
Only about the 3050 km
of national roads, of the more than 17000 km of country roads are paved
or gravelled (an additional 3000 km), so that trips are made more
difficult during the rainy season. There are another 48000 km of slopes.
In the city center you can get in smaller buses, cars
or on truck loading areas (attention safety!) take a ride. In
Ouagadougou there are the green taxis, which you can share with other
people for a small amount of about 300 CFA francs. If you are in a
hurry, it is also possible to rent a taxi on your own. It is advisable
to make the price arrangements in advance.
To travel around the
country, you can either rent a car with a driver or, more cheaply, with
coaches that go from Ouagadougou to the larger cities and in the
respective destinations with moped or private taxis. The intra-urban bus
network is well developed. Simpler buses are mostly second-hand Chinese
vehicles. The use of air-conditioned vehicles is also useful in this
respect, because you are not completely covered by laterite dust at the
end of the trip.
Bush taxis are locally called gbaka.
There are about 60 languages in Burkina Faso. There are 6 official languages: Moree, Djoula, Tamatschek, Bissa, Fulfulde, French. Very few people in the country speak French. That's why the development work is difficult with 60 different languages. It is recommended to take a guide, also possible on the spot to translate.
Burkina Faso is one of the ten poorest countries in
the world. Nevertheless, traveling there is not cheap, since it is
politically desirable to keep the CFA franc of the West African monetary
community overvalued at a fixed exchange rate to the euro. 1 Euro is
equivalent to 655,957 CFA francs. You should make sure to always have
change with you, as there is rarely enough change available.
The
net income of 95% of the population is 17000 CFA, that is, less than 1
euro per day.
Popular souvenirs are:
Hand-woven cotton
blankets from Dori
Arts and crafts, masks, batik fabrics from all
over West Africa on the SIAO or the Village Artisanal
Honey
nationwide
Natural Shea Butter/Karite
Drums/Djembe
Leather
goods in Kaya
Damask fabrics and bogolain
Masks
The cuisine is rather simple except for a few
restaurants. Roadside snacks cost a few hundred CFA. A simple meal is to
be estimated at 2000 CFA in 2017.
Typical dishes are mostly
tasteless tô (millet or corn porridge). This is available with
well-seasoned sauces. He will be with the right (!) Hand shaped into
balls dipped into these. Otherwise you will find Riz gras (syn. Wolof
rice) or Foufou d'igname. Attiéké is grated, fermented cassava porridge,
a dish that comes from the Ivory Coast. Aloco are fried plantains. Meat
and poultry are often tough, but very tasty. The sauces are often given
a viscous consistency unusual for the European taste with baobab leaves
or okra pods (gombo). Typical spices are chillies and soumbala
(fermented fruits of the Néré tree). Meat is offered everywhere. Most
often it's chicken, which is served in all sorts of variations with
sauces or simply grilled or fried or marinated with garlic (poulet à
l'ail - highly recommended!) out there. Grilled fish, tilapia, can be
obtained freshly caught in many regions. The chenis of Bobo are
considered a delicacy among locals. These are caterpillars that are
grilled.
For tourists, in addition to local cuisine, there are
numerous restaurants. Asian, Arabic, French...
Dolo is the local
millet beer. Alcoholic drinks can be found everywhere at reasonable
prices. A local beer (0.5 l), as well as 1½ l of drinking water, costs
around 1000 CFA, imported goods (0.33 l) 1200 CFA. Local breweries of
the Castel-Group are Brakina(brand "Flag") and Sobobra.
In the big cities of Ouaga and Bobo there are a huge
number of possible activities: musical events, cinema, discos. Also in
the provincial cities there is often a pavilion for concerts.
Prostitution is not prohibited, pimping is. Prostitution is widespread
among locals but especially among foreigners nationwide. In Ouagadougou
there are bars that are very popular for all strata of foreigners.
Unfortunately, pedophilia and violence also play a role here, as local
prostitutes in Burkina have no protection at all. "Sédentaires" are
waiting for customers on their doorstep, "trotteuses" are "curbside
swallows.“ In view of the risk of HIV, such activities should be
reconsidered.
In the larger cities there are many hotels from simple to luxurious. However, the prices can quickly be around € 30 per night or more. If a round trip is planned, it is recommended to inform about accommodation options in advance. Reservations for individual persons are usually not necessary. If you like it simple and cheap, you can also stay in dioceses.
The name Burkina Faso, as chosen in 1984 by the then President Thomas Sankara, is bilingual; burkĩna is Mòoré and roughly means "honorable person". The word faso comes from the Dioula language and is called "fatherland" (from fa "father" and so "house, village"). Burkina Faso literally means "fatherland of honorable people". In official language usage in Germany, the population designations Burkiner and Burkinerin are to be used; the adjective is Burkinian. The Duden also gives Burkinabe as a masculine and feminine noun.
About 400,000-year-old chopping tools were found in the north of the country near Markoye. It was possible to prove that about 14,000 years ago hunters and gatherers lived in the northwest of present-day Burkina Faso. Between 3600 and 2600 BC, agriculture was practiced by Neolithic cultures. For the period about 3000-3500 years ago, grave goods indicate an awakening spiritual consciousness of people. The use of iron objects and ceramics could be proven.
Some of the ethnic groups that exist in Burkina Faso today were already settled on the current territory of the country at the end of the first millennium AD and organized in autonomous village communities, such as the Dogon, who moved on to their current settlement area in the border area of Mali and Burkina Faso in the 15th century, as well as the Bobo and Senufo. Among the longest-established groups are the Yonyoose, who assimilated with the Mossi, who began to penetrate from the south from the 15th century. These had moved north from the north of Ghana – according to legend, under the leadership of the Princess Yennenga. Her son Ouédraogo is said to have founded the kingdom of Tenkodogo. This was the oldest of a total of 20 rich, including Ouagadougou and Yatenga. This area, called Moogo, was a cultural and linguistic space, the administrative elements of which, however, formed independent units, but which Moogo naaba considered to be the spiritual and spiritual head. To the east was Gulmu, the empire of the Gulmancema, which also has its origins in the north of Ghana. North of it in 1809/1810 Fulbe from Massina founded the emirate of Liptako. It was a religious and warlike state that arose in the course of the "Jihad of the Fulbe" inspired by Usman dan Fodio. in 1827, part of the emirate was conquered by Tuareg, who established the Oudalan Empire there. The ethnic groups settling to the west of these formations were organized, among other things, in segmental societies, that is, without central institutions in autonomous village communities. In detail, the forms of organization differed among the different ethnicities. Further to the west, the groups living there came under the influence of the ruling dynasties of Kong in what is now Ivory Coast in the 18th century. Empires assumed in the historiography of the early colonial period called Gwiriko and Kénédougou probably never existed, rather the ruling groups exercised their influence on the economic production of the region partly in alliance, partly in military conflict with the village communities of numerous ethnicities. This was done without any effort to exercise political power.
The first European to travel to what is now Burkina
Faso was Heinrich Barth. He reached Liptako from the north and visited
the town of Dori on the way to Timbuktu. After the Congo Conference in
Berlin in 1884/1885, the "race for Africa" in Western Sudan was
expressed in the attempt by the British, French and Germans to bring the
hinterland of the coast under control by means of protectorate
agreements with the Mossi rulers. After all, it was the French who were
able to take Ouagadougou by military force in 1896, forcing the Moogo
naaba to flee. As a result, the entire territory of present-day Burkina
Faso was brought under control and placed under military administration
by numerous protectorate treaties. in 1904 it became part of the colony
of Upper Senegal and Niger, and in 1919 a new colony of Upper Volta
(French La Haute Volta, after the Rio Volta River) was established,
which belonged to French West Africa. The attempt at economic
development under Governor Édouard Hesling was unsuccessful, and due to
lack of profitability, in 1932 the territory was divided among the
neighboring colonies of French Sudan (present-day Mali), Niger and Ivory
Coast. This was intended, among other things, to facilitate the use of
forced labourers on the plantations on the coast; Upper Volta served as
a reservoir for workers due to its relatively high population. As in the
First World War, Upper Voltaians also participated as soldiers in the
units of the so-called Senegalese shooters (tirailleurs sénégalais) for
France in the Second World War.
After the war, the French
colonial order was reorganized under Charles de Gaulle with the creation
of the Union française. Especially the Mossi under the leadership of
Moogo naaba Koom II. pushed for the restoration of Upper Volta within
the borders of 1932, and so in 1947 Upper Volta became an overseas
territory (territoire d'outre-mer, TOM). In the following years,
political life developed, and Upper Voltaians were represented in the
Parliament of the Motherland in Paris (Nazi Boni, Joseph Conombo, Henri
Guissou, Gérard Kango Ouédraogo and Mamadou Ouédraogo). However, parties
offered hardly any programmatic differences and were mainly oriented to
the personalities of the party leaders. The Upper Voltaic section of the
intercolonial party alliance Rassemblement démocratique africain (RDA)
under Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly and after his death Maurice Yaméogo
developed into the most important party in a party landscape full of
conflicts and characterized by divisions and mergers. In these years,
the course was set for independence. With the loi-cadre Defferre of
1956, the colonial administration ceded power to newly elected
territorial assemblies and governments. With the referendum in 1958, an
association with France as an autonomous republic took place within the
framework of the Communauté française. But finally, in the "African Year
1960", Upper Volta also declared its independence.
The first president of the independent Upper Volta
was Maurice Yaméogo, who subsequently established a one-party
dictatorship of the RDA. His wasteful style of government, corruption
and economic maldevelopment eventually led to a popular uprising.
Yaméogo abdicated in January 1966 after street protests under pressure
from trade unions and the underground opposition. His successor was
Sangoulé Lamizana, the commander-in-chief of the army. Under the
military government of the more pragmatic and modest-looking Lamizana, a
new Constitution was drafted, which, after a referendum in 1970, created
the Second Republic in January 1971. After the subsequent parliamentary
elections, the first free multi-party elections in West Africa, Gérard
Kango Ouédraogo (RDA) became Prime Minister. Internal disputes of the
party led to the fact that in 1974 the military again took power and
created the Gouvernement du renouveau national (GRN: "Government of
national renewal"). In the face of popular discontent due to economic
and social problems in the mid-1970s, Lamizana appointed a government of
national unity to draft a new constitution. After its adoption by
referendum, Lamizana became president of the Third Republic in the 1978
elections and appointed Joseph Conombo as prime minister. This
government was also unable to act due to internal strife, and after a
strike by teachers, a group of military officers led by Saye Zerbo
staged a coup on September 25, 1980, and he subsequently became
president. In retrospect, Lamizana will benefit from his balancing
abilities and the fact that there were no political prisoners under him.
Having come to power by chance, the military under Lamizana had
increasingly taken a liking to it.
With the 1980 coup, Upper
Volta plunged into chaos for three years, caused by the power struggle
of the old guard of the military and a group of young officers who
wanted to overcome the country's deadlock. Zerbo ruled the country with
a Comité militaire de redressement pour le progrès national (CMRPN),
quickly lost its popularity due to unpopular measures – including the
ban on strikes. It was at this time that the rise of the charismatic
left-wing Thomas Sankara began. Finally, on November 7, 1982, there was
another military coup. Since Sankara, who was considered the mastermind,
did not aspire to power, the military doctor Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo
became president. While the aim was to return to a constitutional order
in a transitional phase, Sankara – appointed Prime Minister –
intensified contacts with the anti-Western regime of Muammar Gaddafi in
Libya. He did this to the displeasure of Ouédraogo, who tried to prevent
the undermining of his power and wanted to maintain ties with France and
the moderate states of Africa. Sankara was eventually arrested, which
caused unrest in the ranks of the military and protests among the
population. After the officer Blaise Compaoré had moved to Ouagadougou
with the parachuting unit under his command to free his friend Sankara,
a coup d'etat took place on August 4, 1983, which brought Sankara to
power and was later called a revolution.
Sankara established a left-wing military dictatorship
with the Conseil national de la révolution (CNR: "National Revolutionary
Council") as the executive body, pursued an energetic social and
development policy that was supposed to promote rural areas to the
detriment of the urban population and the state class, and pushed for
equality for women. The goal was a radical transformation of society and
the end of dependence on foreign countries. In a counter-coup attempt,
two of the participants were killed on the night of August 9-10. This
was the first time that bloodshed had occurred in an attempted coup in
Upper Volta.
As a result, Sankara created Comités de défense de
la révolution (CDR: "Committees for the Defense of the revolution"),
which were to ensure and monitor the course and continuation of the
revolution in all places of the country. The CDRs have played a part in
the successful course of numerous development campaigns, such as a
large-scale children's vaccination programme supported by WHO and
UNICEF, or the expansion of the railway line, known as bataille du rail,
with the participation of the population. At the initial stage of the
revolution, people suspected of the Counter-revolution were arrested and
denounced, including Joseph Ki-Zerbo. At the head of the state was a
group consisting, in addition to Sankara, of Blaise Compaoré, Henri
Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Lingani.
On October 2, 1983, Sankara
presented the political goals of the revolution to the population in a
speech called discours d'orientation politique (DPO). The aim is to
neutralize the bourgeoisie associated with imperialism in favor of the
working classes and to enable agricultural self-sufficiency. For this,
land was nationalized, the use of which was previously organized by
traditional authorities in the villages. Literacy and gender equality
were other priorities of Sankara. Former politicians and civil servants
had to answer to the tribunaux populaires de la révolution (TPR:
"People's tribunals of the Revolution") for offences such as corruption
and embezzlement of public funds. Ex-President Zerbo received the
highest sentence with 15 years in prison, seven of which were on
probation. in 1985, the pronounced verdicts were annulled again. In
order to break with the colonial past, Sankara renamed the state Burkina
Faso ("land of honorable people") in 1984, created a new flag in the
Pan-African colors and introduced a new national anthem (ditanyè),
written by himself. Sankara "takes non-alignment seriously, forbids any
interference". He called for considering and ignoring the debts of
African states as a result of colonial European exploitation. French
President Mitterrand publicly described him as "one who robs you of
sleep".
In May 1984, seven people were convicted and executed for
an attempted coup. This violence, which had not been experienced before,
shocked the population, as well as the arson in the rooms of the
independent newspaper L'Observateur (now L'Observateur paalga), which
subsequently had to stop its publication. Sankara "massively curtails
the privileges of the urban upper class ... The dissatisfied at home and
abroad gather behind Blaise Compaoré of all people".
The border
war with Mali that broke out in 1985 over a narrow border strip in the
Sahel ended with a military defeat of the significantly inferior
Burkinians and a verdict of the International Court of Justice. The
conflict was preceded by accusations of Malian subversion by Sankara and
his encouragement of a revolution in Mali, which, under dictator Moussa
Traoré, was "acting in the service of American imperialism". Against
Mali, Sankara sought to unite Burkina Faso with Ghana in a West African
Union.
In a climate of suspicion, abuse of power by the CDR and
political imprisonment – to the point of torture and death – the
discontent of the population grew. The repressive character of the
regime alienated the population from the project of the revolution.
There were disagreements within the CNR regarding the speed of further
reforms and the manner of their implementation. Thomas Sankara was
accused of slipping into a dogmatism bordering on blindness and betrayal
of the revolution. In the course of a coup on 15. In October 1987, he
was shot with about 30 other people, "demonstrably by [perpetrators]
from Compaoré's camp". The union project with Ghana was rejected under
his successor Blaise Compaoré.
To date (2015), the circumstances
of Sankara's death have not been finally clarified. Compaoré had always
resisted exhumation and a reappraisal of the circumstances of his death.
28 Years after Sankara's death, his remains were excavated in May 2015.
The exhumation, initiated by his widow Mariam Sankara, was intended to
shed light on the unexplained circumstances of the former head of
state's death. With the help of a DNA analysis, it is now to be
determined whether the bones in the grave are actually those of Sankara.
Just on the day when the first results were to be presented, another
violent coup took place under the leadership of General Gilbert
Diendéré.
Compaoré initially ruled the country at the head of a
front populaire (FP: "Popular Front") alongside Zongo and Lingani. In a
development called rectification ("improvement"), he "reversed most of
what his former friend had initiated. He again turned to France,
liberalized the economy and established a kind of facade democracy.“
There were three failed coup attempts – and a climate of repression;
numerous deaths were to be lamented, including Zongo and Lingani, who
were shot dead in 1989. Those parties and organizations that supported
Compaoré's change united in the organization pour la démocratie
populaire-Mouvement du travail (ODP-MT), the predecessor of the current
ruling party Congrès pour la démocratie et le progrès (CDP). Under the
influence of world political events in 1990/91, the process of formal
democratization also took place in Burkina Faso; Compaoré had a
constitution drawn up, which was adopted by the people in a referendum
in 1991. The following presidential elections were boycotted by the
opposition and became a failure for Compaoré, who could not legitimize
his power with a turnout of only 27%. In the following years, social and
economic stabilization succeeded, despite the devaluation of the CFA
franc in 1994. After Compaoré was confirmed in office in the 1998
elections, a major crisis with sometimes violent protests occurred after
the murder of the critical journalist Norbert Zongo. In the 2002
parliamentary elections, the ruling CDP party lost numerous seats to the
fragmented opposition.
Thanks to a controversial constitutional
amendment, Compaoré was able to win 80.4% of the vote in the
presidential elections in November 2005, which were not boycotted by the
opposition for the first time, thus entering his third term. On November
21, 2010, Compaoré won the presidential elections again and entered his
fourth term in office.
Serious allegations of having been
involved in the civil wars of Liberia and Sierra Leone and of having
profited from the trade of weapons and so-called "blood diamonds" have
not yet been proven. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is
considered a friend of Compaoré, organized his attack from Burkina Faso,
which had granted him asylum. Some neighboring countries accused
Compaoré of exerting destabilizing influence by supporting and harboring
oppositionists and rebels. At the same time, Burkina Faso sought to play
a role as a mediator and peacemaker in numerous crises in Africa, for
example, after the death of the President of Togo, Gnassingbé Eyadéma.
With the civil war in the Ivory Coast, there was probably the most
serious foreign policy crisis in the country. Burkina Faso was accused
by the Ivory Coast of supporting the rebels and, for its part, did not
want to rule out military intervention to assist the approximately two
million Burkinians or Burkinis who became targets of violence during the
riots. The normalization of the relationship and the mediation of the
Treaty of Ouagadougou to end the civil War are considered a success of
the diplomacy of Burkina Faso and Compaoré.
A planned constitutional amendment to allow Compaoré
to serve a fifth term was heavily criticized by the opposition and led
to the largest demonstration in a long time at the beginning of 2014. In
the last week of October, the protests spread and led to riots. The day
before the vote in parliament on the constitutional amendment, trade
unions and the opposition had called for a strike. On October 30, 2014,
the day of the planned vote, the military, according to their own
statements, disempowered the government and dissolved the parliament.
The following day, Compaoré resigned as president; Army Chief Nabéré
Honoré Traoré had previously stated that a transitional government would
take power "within twelve months" until the restoration of
constitutional order. He had assumed the post of head of state "in
accordance with the Constitution"; Compaoré announced new elections
within 90 days. The deputy head of the Presidential Guard, Colonel Isaac
Yacouba Zida, also claimed the post of interim president and called
Traoré's statement "ineffective". On 1. In November, the military
leadership unanimously supported Zida, and competitor Traoré also signed
a corresponding statement. Compaoré had left the country in the meantime
and had fled to the neighboring state of Ivory Coast. On 16 November,
Michel Kafando was appointed as interim civilian president for one year,
and Zida took over as Prime Minister. Free parliamentary and
presidential elections were scheduled for October 11, 2015.
Military coup 2015
On September 16, 2015, there was a military coup
by the Presidential Guard against the incumbent interim government and
the interim president. The Presidential Guard, which had been set up as
Compaoré's personal instrument of power, saw its existence endangered by
the upcoming free democratic elections after his departure. After the
announcement of the overthrow of the government on television by the
putschists on September 17, 2015, there were protests in Ouagadougou.
The United States, France and the African Union condemned the coup. On
18. In September, the leader of the putschists, General Gilbert
Diendéré, dismissed Kafando and almost the entire cabinet. Diendéré
denied contacts with Compaoré. In the further course of the coup, it
became clear that the army and police, as well as the vast majority of
the population, were unwilling to recognize the putschists as the new
government. Army spokesmen declared that they wanted to avoid bloodshed,
called on the putschists to surrender and called on the protesters in
Ouagadougou to calm down. The West African Economic Community (ECOWAS)
tried to mediate. The putschists demanded a full amnesty for those
involved in the coup and the possibility that followers of ex-President
Compaoré would be allowed to run in the upcoming presidential election.
On the night of September 22-23, the putschists and the army signed a
five-point plan. He provided for the RSP to withdraw from Ouagadougou to
its Naaba Koom II base. The elite troupe had to give up its post in the
capital. The regular army promised the putschists security for them and
their families. It was unclear whether the coup plotters would be
granted impunity. After the first cabinet meeting of the reinstated
interim government, a decree on dissolution and disarmament was issued.
The disarmament took place without major incidents. A commission should
investigate the background to the coup. It was also agreed that a new
schedule for the parliamentary and presidential elections should be
drawn up.
In the presidential elections on November 29, 2015,
opposition politician and former Prime Minister Roch Marc Kaboré won
53.49 percent of the vote. In the parliamentary elections held at the
same time, Kaboré's new Mouvement du peuple pour le progrès (MPP) party
won 55 of the 127 seats, but fell short of an absolute majority. The
second strongest force was the party of Kaboré's main rival Zéphirin
Diabré with 33 seats. The party Congrès pour la démocratie et le progrès
(CDP) of the long-time head of state Blaise Compaoré received 18 seats.
In 2019, the UN found that the government had largely lost control
of the north and east of the country to jihadists. Some of these were
displaced from Mali by French troops, some were recruited by Ansaroul
Islam from the Muslim Fulbe ethnic group. There are half a million
internally displaced persons and 300,000 children cannot attend school.
In February 2020, the UNHCR reported about 865,000 internally displaced
persons and almost 2,000 deaths from Islamist groups.
On November
22, 2020, presidential elections were held again on a regular basis, in
which the incumbent President Roch Marc Kaboré was re-elected with an
absolute majority of over 57% of the votes. The leading candidates of
the opposition parties Eddie Komboigo and Zéphirin Diabré achieved only
15% and 12% of the votes, respectively. Already in the course of
preparing for the election, the opposition accused the government of
"massive fraud". The low turnout of about 50% was attributed by the
Electoral commission, among other things, to the poor security
situation. Over 1000 polling stations were not opened and several
hundred thousand voters could not cast their votes.
On January 24, 2022, there was a military coup
against the elected president, in which Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri
Sandaogo Damiba took power at the head of a military junta called
Mouvement patriotique pour la sauvegarde et la restoration (MPSR,
"Patriotic Movement for Security and Restoration") and was elevated to
the presidency on March 2, 2022. Unrest had already spread within the
armed forces in advance: the military accused Kaboré of having failed in
the fight against Islamist terrorist militias. Contrary to Damiba's
promise to improve the security situation in the country, the jihadists
have continued to spread since he came to power, which led to discontent
among the population. In addition, there was a split within the armed
forces and society, with a faction similar to the military government in
neighboring Mali under Assimili Goïta wanting to cooperate with Russia.
Anti-French resentment in society favors this attitude.
On the
evening of September 30, 2022, Damiba was deposed by rival military
officers led by Ibrahim Traoré. The new military junta suspended the
country's constitution and ordered the borders to be closed. Russian
flags were also displayed at demonstrations in Ouagadougou that preceded
the recent coup. When the coup plotters took power, they accused Damiba
of having done too little to improve the security situation. Damiba
officially resigned on October 2. On 6. In October, the Constitution was
re-enacted and Traoré was declared head of state.
As in Mali
before, Burkina Faso subsequently turned away from the Western countries
and the former colonial power France in terms of foreign policy, whose
military cooperation was also terminated as part of Operation Barkhane.
Ruler Ibrahim Traoré launched a campaign to recruit 50,000 volunteers to
support the Burkinabe Armed Forces. However, the government's efforts to
push back the jihadist groups are not bearing fruit: in February 2023,
around 70 soldiers died in attacks within a few days, and at least 40 in
April. Civilians are also becoming victims again and again. The military
junta took massive action against the freedom of the press. In 2023, the
popular radio station Radio Omega was closed after it broadcast an
interview that was considered "offensive" to the military leadership in
neighboring Niger. At the end of April and the beginning of May 2024,
numerous international media outlets, including the British BBC, the
Voice of America, Deutsche Welle (DW), the French media TV5 Monde and Le
Monde, as well as the British Guardian, were suspended.
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in central West Africa with an area of 267,950 km², of which 400 km² is water. It lies south of the Niger Arc and the Sahara and shares its 3193 km long land border with six neighboring countries; in the north-west and north with Mali (988 km long), in the east with Niger (628 km) and in the south-east with Benin (306 km) and Togo (126 km). Burkina Faso also borders Ghana (549 km) to the south and the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire, 584 km) to the south-west. Most of the country lies in the Sudan landscape, and Burkina Faso also shares part of the Sahel in the north.
About three-quarters of the country is shaped by a hull area that belongs to the lower central section of the Upper Guinea Rise. It is a gently undulating plateau, averaging about 250-350 meters above sea level, and is part of a Precambrian granite-gneiss shelf that formed about 2-3 billion years ago. About 32% (70,778 km²) of the country's area is on the central plateau (also called the Mossi plateau after its inhabitants). The landscape of the plateau is mostly flat with scattered hills, troughs, knolls, inselbergs and free-standing granite outcrops that have resisted erosion. A sandstone tableland characterizes the southwest of Burkina Faso, which reaches 749 m with the Tena Kourou, the highest mountain in the country. This massif, which is mainly in the form of a monotonous plateau, has an average height of 450 to 500 m, drops steeply to the bases covered with sediments and forms the Chaîne de Banfora ridge. This chain stretches in a northeast-southwest direction at an average elevation of 150 m. To the southeast is the Chaîne de Gobnangou, a massif that rises about 100 m above the central plateau. Quaternary formations mainly exist in the form of old dunes in the north of the country, which reach heights of up to 20 m and lengths of 10–20 km. 40% of the area north of Markoye is covered by dunes. The lowest point in the country is in the Oti river valley at 125 m.
Burkina Faso has a tropical changing climate, which
is significantly influenced by the West African monsoon and the
Harmattan trade wind. Due to the alternating influences of the monsoon
and the harmattan, there is a distinct rainy and dry season in the
course of the year.
From north to south, the country shares the
different vegetation zones of the Sahel and Sudan. The former covers
about 25% of the country's area and is characterized by drought;
precipitation can fall below 300 mm per year, and the rainy season
sometimes lasts less than two months. Half of the country is subject to
the Sudan-Sahel climate, which is characterized by a rainy season
lasting four to five months. The rainy season in the southern Sudan zone
lasts about six months; Rainfall of up to 1300 mm per year is not
uncommon here. Overall, an average of 165 km³ of precipitation falls in
the country every year, of which only 9 km³ are drained.
The
average temperatures range between 25 °C and 30 °C. The lowest
temperature ever measured was 5 °C, in 1971 at Bobo-Dioulasso and 1975
in Markoye. The highest temperature ever measured in the country was
also recorded there at 46 °C. March and April are the hottest months,
while January and December are the coldest. In the rainy season, warm,
humid winds blow across the country from the south-west, while in winter
the hot, dry harmattan sand and dust from the Sahara blow south-west.
Some climatic changes have been observed over the past 35 years,
including a decrease in precipitation and an increase in temperature.
Extreme climate phenomena such as major droughts and floods have also
increased in recent decades.
The watercourses in Burkina Faso can be classified into three basins. Of these, the Volta Basin is the most important with an area of around 180,000 km². It includes the Mouhoun (Black Volta), the Nakambé (White Volta) and the Pendjari (Oti) basins, occupying about 2/3 of the country's surface. In northern Ghana, the Mouhoun receives the water from the tributaries mentioned and the Nazinon (Red Volta). With an area of 18,000 km², the Comoé basin, whose course is interrupted by rapids and waterfalls (such as the Cascades de Karfiguéla), is much smaller. The 77,000 km² large drainage system of the Niger Basin includes the small temporary watercourses that flow into it on the right in northern Burkina Faso (including Béli, Gorouol and Sirba).
Many of the numerous small lakes and pools with no outflow, including the Mare d'Oursi Ramsar Conservation Area, are seasonally dry. They represent important water reservoirs for humans and animals. The two largest natural lakes in Burkina Faso, Lake Bam and Lake Demsee, are about 100 km north of Ouagadougou. Numerous rivers were dammed to form lakes, such as the Kompienga reservoir in the south-east and the Bagré reservoir in the south, both of which drive a storage power plant. The Sourou was dammed in the north-west, while the Ziga reservoir has been supplying the western capital with water since July 2004. Altogether there are 2100 reservoirs in Burkina Faso with a storage capacity of 4.6 km³.
2,067 species of higher plants are known in Burkina
Faso, with the grasses and legumes accounting for the largest share.
Numerous wild plants are used as raw materials, animal feed, food or
medicine. Particularly important useful trees are, for example, shea
tree, African baobab tree (baobab) and néré, but also ana tree, neem
tree, Ethiopian palmyra palm and tamarind tree. In the course of changes
in use and climate change, the range of many Sahelian species is
shifting towards the south.
Burkina Faso comprises three
phytogeographical zones belonging to the Sudano-Zambese savannah belt;
Sahel in the north, Sudan in the center and Sudan-Guinea in the south.
The distinction is based, among other things, on the lower rainfall
(less than 600 mm of rainfall per year) and the longer dry season in the
north. In the Sahel, thornbush savannahs are predominant – in part with
tiger bush vegetation, which is a form of drought adaptation. Trees
usually grow singly, sometimes grouped into groves. Predominant species
include Verek acacia, fragrant acacia, desert date, Indian jujube and
the African baobab tree, which is characteristic of the Sahel.
The Sudan zone, characterized by precipitation in the range between 600
mm and 1000 mm per year, is characterized like the Sahel by acacia and
thorn plants, but differs among other things by the appearance of other
species such as néré, shea tree and above all wing seed plants as the
dominant element of the Sudanese savannas. Tree density increases
towards the south, forming isolated groves, forests and gallery forests
along the rivers. In the densely populated areas of the central plateau,
savannah landscapes degraded by human influence dominate. In terms of
species and abundance, the herbaceous layer consists largely of grasses,
with the proportion of tall and perennial species increasing towards the
south.
Rainfall over 1000 mm per year is common in the
Sudan-Guinea zone. The Guinea plum, among others, joins the species that
are also native to the more northern zones. Species such as broad-leaved
fig, West African butter tree, oil palm or Mucuna are found in the
gallery forests. Plants that prefer warm, humid climates thrive in the
gallery forests.
Most of the large mammals that live in the savannas can also be found in Burkina Faso, but there they are threatened by the enormous population pressure in their habitats. Some animal species, such as giraffes and cheetahs, are no longer found in the country. Hippos, elephants, antelopes, monkeys, gazelles and leopards live in the sanctuaries and have been decimated by hunting. There are African bush rats and snakes. 495 bird species have been documented in the country, including the African ostrich, several species of stork, around 50 different birds of prey, hornbills, kingfishers and bee-eaters. Crocodiles live in the lakes and mares and are particularly revered by the population as "sacred crocodiles". There are bans on hunting for certain animal species.
The nature reserves in
Burkina Faso include four national parks. The Arly National Park, like
the Burkinabe part of the W National Park, is in the southeast, the
Kaboré-Tambi National Park in the south and the Deux Balés National Park
in the west of the country. There are also a UNESCO biosphere reserve
Mare aux Hippopotames and a Ramsar protected area Mare d'Oursi as well
as numerous protected areas called réserves and forêts classés.
The climate change that has been observed in Burkina Faso for about 35
years, the consequences of which are reflected in falling precipitation
and higher temperatures, as well as the bush fires, deforestation and
soil depletion started by farmers to develop arable land are reasons for
increasing desertification, starting from the Sahelian north of the
country. In 1984, the Plan national de lutte contre la désertification
(PNLD) was drawn up with the aim of protecting the natural spaces that
are still intact, combating the practice of bush fires, improving the
quality of the soil and organizing reforestation programs. Around 23
million trees were planted for this purpose between 1996 and 2000 alone.
There was a refrain from creating pure eucalyptus plantations, as
happened in the 1960s, when the aim was to get trees for firewood
relatively quickly. Supported by the search engine Ecosia, more than 14
million trees have been planted on over 14,000 hectares of land that has
become barren since 2014 in cooperation with the local population. In
addition, native and endangered tree species were selected, such as
Balanitas aegyptica, Ziziphus mauritiana, Acacia nilotica and raddiana,
Maerua crassifolia.
The severe storms that caused flooding in
numerous West African countries during the rainy season of 2007 also
caused damage in Burkina Faso. About 9,000 houses were destroyed and
28,000 people were left homeless, 51 people died. Numerous roads and
bridges were damaged and crops destroyed; the crop failure is estimated
at 13,268 tons.
Population growth is around three percent per year. The number of births per woman was statistically 5.0 in 2020 and has been steadily declining since its peak of 7.17 in 1983. The child mortality rate in 2020 was estimated at 52 out of 1000 births (compared to Germany: 4 out of 1000). The life expectancy of the residents of Burkina Faso from birth was 62 years in 2020 (women: 62.7, men: 61.1). Due to the low life expectancy and high birth rates, there is a high proportion of young people in the total population. According to the UN's average population forecast for 2050, the population is expected to be over 43 million.
The most numerous
ethnic group are the Mossi (40%), whose ancestors immigrated from the
south around the 15th century and over time assimilated with the
long-established inhabitants, including the Yonyoose. As a result, this
mixture of autochthonous groups (called tẽng-biisi) and conquerors
(nakombse) developed an ethnic identity with the Moogo naaba as the
spiritual leader through a common language, founding myths, rituals and
hierarchically organized power structures and today has a dominant
political role in Burkina Faso inside. Closely related to them are the
Gulmancema (8% of the population) living in the east. According to the
founding myth of both peoples, the respective progenitors - Ouédraogo
among the Mossi and Diaba Lompo among the Gulmancema - come from the
same family. Another population group are the Fulbe (5%), who mainly
settle in the north, but as cattle-raising nomads can be found
throughout the country. They originally come from the Fouta Toro in what
is now Senegal. The Tuareg (7%) also live nomadic lives in the far
north, in the Sahel. Linguistically closely related are the Bissa living
in the south and the Sanan living in the northwest. The southwest of the
country is ethnically less homogeneous; In addition to the Bobo (14%),
Senufo (9%), Lobi (6%) and Bwaba, numerous smaller ethnic groups live
there. The ethnic groups formerly grouped under the term Gurunsi include
the Kassena, Nuna, and Lyéla. The traditional joking relationships
(parenté à plaisanterie) between the different groups make an important
contribution to peaceful coexistence: Certain ethnic groups are allowed
to mock one another according to set rules, for example Mossi and Sanan
or Fulbe and Bobo.
Around 3,200 French live permanently in
Burkina Faso, plus around 20,000 who are temporarily in the country,
among other things as part of development cooperation projects. The
economically important Lebanese community has around 600 members.
A total of 68 different languages and idioms are spoken in Burkina Faso. With independence, the language of the former colonial rulers, French, became the sole official language. Although its importance continues to increase, it is only controlled by a minority. That is why literacy courses are held for those who have never attended primary school, including in the national languages Mòoré (language of the Mossi), Dioula, and Fulfulde (language of the Fulbe). Dioula is of great importance as a lingua franca and commercial language in the linguistically heterogeneous western part of the country. Arabic also has a function as a commercial language and is taught at Koran schools, among other places. Other languages include the Tuareg and the numerous Niger-Congo languages that make up the majority of the languages spoken in the country, including the Mande languages Bissa, San and Boboda, the Gur languages Gulmancema, Lobiri, Koromfe and Bwamu, and the numerous Gurunsi -Languages.
The importance of the traditional religions of the
individual ethnic groups has been able to hold up to this day more than
in other countries, so around 15.3% of Burkinabe followers of an African
religion. This is mainly due to the fact that the Mossi resisted
Islamization from the north for a long time. In the traditional Mossi
belief, there is a god Wande who created the universe and subsequently
withdrew from humans. As intermediaries, various spirits subsequently
settled in various places, in objects and animals. Ancestor worship is
very important to the Mossi. It was only at the end of the 18th century
that Moogo naaba Doulgou converted to Islam.
At 60.5%, more than
half of Burkinabe are Muslims today. To this day, an undogmatic,
pragmatic variant of Islam is lived in the country, which incorporates
elements of traditional religions, including a dodo, originally a ritual
masked dance during the Muslim month of fasting Ramadan, which is now
performed by boys for entertainment and in front of spectators. As a
result of intensive missions, Islam is in constant growth. The
collective association of Burkinabe Muslims is the Communauté musulmane
du Burkina Faso (CMBF), founded in 1962.
The number of Christians
is given as 23.2%, in the majority Catholics (19%) and members of
various Protestant faiths (4.2%). The small Lebanese community is 90%
Christian. There are 13 Catholic dioceses, three of which are
archdioceses, which are organized in the Bishops' Conference of Burkina
Faso and Niger. Archbishop of Ouagadougou is Philippe Ouédraogo.
With the exception of the Fulbe, who mainly live in the north, the
ethnic groups are religiously heterogeneous. Above all, the capital
Ouagadougou is religiously mixed, while the economic metropolis
Bobo-Dioulasso is mostly Muslim.
According to the 2006 census, 13,730,258 people live in Burkina Faso, 20.3% of them in urban settlements. From 1975 on there was a rapidly increasing urbanization of the population; At that time, only 6.4% of Burkinabe's urban residents had doubled to 12.7% within ten years. Despite this increase, the degree of urbanization is lower than in countries such as Senegal or Ivory Coast (47% and 50% respectively). The primary destination of the largely young rural population, who see no prospects in their villages, is the capital Ouagadougou, whose population has more than doubled in recent years and which, with a share of 50% of the total population, is under 20 years old city is. The second largest agglomeration is the economic metropolis Bobo-Dioulasso in the west of the country. In order to slow down the influx into these two cities, attempts have been made since the late 1980s to upgrade the infrastructure of less large cities.
According to the 2006 census, 13,730,258 people live in Burkina Faso, of which 20.3% live in urban settlements. From 1975 onwards, there was a rapidly increasing urbanization of the population; at that time, only 6.4% of Burkinabes were urban residents, so this number doubled to 12.7% within ten years. Despite this increase, the degree of urbanization is lower than in countries such as Senegal or Ivory Coast (47%, and 50%, respectively). The primary destination of the rural population, which is mostly young and does not see any prospects in its villages, is the capital Ouagadougou, whose population has more than doubled in recent years and which is a young city with a share of 50% of the total population under the age of 20. The second largest agglomeration is the economic metropolis of Bobo-Dioulasso, located in the west of the country. In order to reduce the influx to these two cities, attempts have been made since the end of the 1980s to upgrade the infrastructure of less large cities.
The largest group of expatriates in terms of numbers
is the one in Ivory Coast, their number in 1998 was about 2.2 million
people. Some of them have been living there for several generations,
because from 1932 to 1947 a part of present-day Burkina Faso had been
annexed by the French to the colony of Ivory Coast in order to
facilitate the employment of workers on the plantations there. In the
course of the civil war in Ivory Coast from 2002 onwards, during which
the Burkinabe diaspora was the target of persecution, several hundred
thousand Burkinabes fled back to their homeland or that of their
ancestors.
About 35,000 Burkinians live in Italy, about 4,000 -
5,000 in France, some of them in the third generation. The diaspora is
organized in the Conseil supérieur des Burkinabè de l'étranger (CSBE).
As of December 31, 2019, 2085 Burkinabe nationals were registered in
Germany, 120 in Austria as of January 1, 2022, and 393 in Switzerland.
Burkina Faso suffers from a poorly developed health
care system. In 2019, 0.9 doctors practiced in Burkina Faso per 10,000
inhabitants. Infant mortality is 54 per 1000 live births, infant
mortality is 88 per 1000 live births. The most common causes of death
include respiratory infections (especially pneumonia), malaria and
diarrheal diseases such as cholera. A dangerous and often fatal
infectious disease is also meningococcal meningitis (meningitis), which
regularly afflicts the country during the dry season in the months of
February to April.
Another problem is the infection rate of HIV /
AIDS. The prevalence was reported as 0.7% in 2019, but Burkina Faso is
not one of the high-prevalence countries.
Burkina Faso is (along
with Malawi) one of the focus countries of one-dollar glasses
activities: people with defective eyesight receive glasses for the
equivalent of 5 euros.
In 2018, public health expenditure
amounted to 5.6% of gross domestic product. The health care system is
divided into a total of five levels:
Poste de Santé Primaire (PSP)
Centre de Santé et de Promotion Sociale (CSPS)
Centre Médical (CM) or
Centre Médical avec Antenne Chirurgicale (CMA)
Centre Hospitalier
Regional (CHR)
Centre Hospitalier National (CHN)
At the lowest
levels, the equipment is insufficient. There are rarely doctors on site,
but only nurses. But even at the upper levels, the supply is often poor.
According to the country information portal of the Society for
International Cooperation, the "CHN Yalgado Ouedraogo" in Ouagadougou
has "the reputation of being a death station". Doctors here are
overworked and poorly paid and would still work in private hospitals
after work. Corruption and the sale of cheaper but uncontrolled
medicines from flying dealers are also big problems, although a saying
warns against this ("Les médicaments de la rue, ça tue!" - Killing
medicines from the street).
In addition to traditional medicine,
traditional medicine plays an important role. Many seek help from
healers with supposedly magical abilities or "charlatans who sell
gris-gris (amulets/lucky charms) or impose ghost-appeasing actions (for
example, dropping an egg out of a taxi in traffic, giving a blind man a
cloth, giving bread to begging Koran students, a red rooster to a
blacksmith...). According to their understanding, illness has its origin
in a hidden world, in which it can also be cured by calming the spirits
(Kinkirgha).“
With the adoption of the Constitution in 1991, the "Fourth Republic" was established. According to this, Burkina Faso is a presidential republic. The head of state is the President (Président du Faso), who is directly elected by the people every five years (until 2000 every seven years) and can be re-elected once.
Burkina Faso has a unicameral system. The Parliament
(Assemblée Nationale) is elected every five years. It has 127 members.
111 Deputies are elected in 45 multi-person constituencies, which are
identical to the provinces of Burkina Faso by design. The number of
deputies per constituency varies from two to nine. 16 others are elected
by a nationwide list by proportional representation.
Until the
fall of the long-time president Compaoré in 2014, the CDP (Congrès pour
la démocratie et le progrès) dominated the parliament, which supported
the president's policies. Since his resignation, however, there have
been strong shifts in favor of the opposition. The new strongest force
is the MPP (Mouvement du peuple pour le progrès), to which the current
president also belongs.
The party landscape of the country is
fragmented into numerous small parties. 15 parties have been sitting in
parliament since the 2020 elections. In addition to the CDP, one of the
largest opposition parties is the UPC (Union pour le Progrès et le
Changement).
Despite the establishment of a "Ministry for Human
Rights" and a fund for victims of political violence as well as the
introduction of reforms in the judicial system, as of 2022, basic rights
– especially those of women – are little respected, especially by the
rural population; for example, thousands of young women or girls are
forcibly married in Burkina Faso every year. By law, this is also
illegal in Burkina Faso. As of 2010, women are hardly involved in
political decision-making processes. In many rural areas, although the
government is taking serious penalties against it, genital mutilation of
girls is still practiced. However, according to UNICEF, as a result of a
broad educational movement, the spread of this rite is slowly declining.
A woman's right to vote already existed in 1946: according to the
Loi Lamine Guèye of 1946, all citizens had the right to vote in
elections to the French parliament and also in local elections. The
right to vote was not explicitly mentioned in the law, but it was not
excluded either. In the elections to the Paris Parliament, there was no
two-class suffrage in French West Africa, which at that time included
Upper Volta, as in other French colonies, but for all local elections
there was. Before independence, under French administration, women were
given the right to vote on March 23. June 1956 in the context of the
introduction of the loi-cadre Defferre the general active and passive
suffrage. This right was confirmed in the Constitution of September 28,
1958.
Children's rights are sufficiently enshrined in law, but
they are hardly respected and implemented in everyday life because of
the enormous poverty in the country. Many children are drawn to hard
work and are therefore not allowed to attend school. There is also still
child trafficking, which can lead to slave-like living conditions.
To the knowledge of the German federal government, consensual
homosexual acts among adults are also prohibited in Burkina Faso.
Homosexuality is not explicitly mentioned in the Criminal Code as a
criminal offence, but can be prosecuted as a "disturbance of public
order" or "violation of good morals" and punished with up to three years
in prison. Same-sex civil partnerships are met with strong social
rejection in Burkina Faso.
More than 300 people were arrested in
2009 during protests against the rising cost of living, according to
Amnesty International. More than 80 of those arrested were sentenced to
imprisonment without legal assistance.
In foreign policy, relations with the former colonial
power France have become more intensive again, especially since the
conflict in the Ivory Coast, but Libya under Muammar Gaddafi was also an
important partner of Burkinabe diplomacy. The country also maintains
good relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan. Germany has
traditionally been very involved in development cooperation. There are
many contacts and partnerships at the level of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) between German associations or municipalities and
places in Burkina Faso. The Deutsch-Burkinische
Freundschaftsgesellschaft has been the network of these partnerships in
Germany since 1990. In recent years, Burkina Faso has been making
intensive efforts to be noticed at the international level and is
increasingly offering itself as a host of major events, such as the
Francophone Summit in 2004 and meetings of the African Union. The
capital Ouagadougou has been considered the safe and stable
international center of West Africa for years.
Within the
framework of the 62nd Ordinary General Assembly of the United Nations,
Burkina Faso was elected to the UN Security Council on October 16, 2007
as a non-permanent member for the period 2008-2009.
The army (Forces armées nationales) (FAN) was founded
in 1960 and consists of 10,800 men. in 1961, the command authority was
transferred from the French to the Upper Volta authorities. As a result,
the military took power several times by coups. In the 1980s, there was
a war with Mali for control of the Agacher Strip.
Relations with
the neighbouring country Ivory Coast, which is home to several million
Burkinians or people of Burkinian descent, are very tense as a result of
the civil war that is raging there. Abidjan accuses Burkina Faso of
supporting the rebels in the north of the country. Several hundred
thousand refugees have fled back to Burkina Faso in recent years from
the violence against immigrants from the Sahel countries. The
possibility of intervention by the Burkinabe army has not been ruled
out.
As a result of an attempted coup from the ranks of the
military, Defense Minister Kouamé Lougé was dismissed in 2004.
At
the turn of the year 2006/2007, there were shootings in Ouagadougou
between dissatisfied soldiers and police forces, which resulted in
several deaths and injured civilians on both sides. Hundreds of soldiers
moved around the city shooting at night, allowing about 600 inmates of
the main prison to escape. The soldiers' displeasure was based, among
other things, on the feeling of discrimination against the increasingly
better equipped police due to poorer equipment and lower pay.
Burkina Faso participates in various peace operations of the UN Blue
Helmets.
The land forces have the following heavy equipment:
EE-9 Cascavel (24 ordered 1983-1984)
M8 Greyhound (10 M-8 + 4 M-20,
delivered in 1961)
Ferret-Wheeled armored vehicles (30)
Panhard
AML (13 AML-90 + 2 AML-60 delivered in 1975)
Panhard M3 troop
transport tank (13)
Eland-90 (4)
122-mm rocket launcher BM-21
degree (5)
Rocket Launcher Type 63 (107 mm MLR) (4)
105 mm
Howitzer M101 (8)
Anti-aircraft missiles Strela-3 (10) and 9K32
Strela-2 (20)
The road network connects Burkina Faso with all
neighboring countries via asphalt roads, the expansion of which is
partly financed by the European Union. The majority of the network
consists of laterite roads; asphalting work has been completed on the
west-east axis, but is still under construction on the various northern
routes.
Burkina Faso has a railway line (Abidjan-Niger Railway),
which leads to the Ivorian economic metropolis of Abidjan and was one of
the most important lifelines of the landlocked country until the unrest
there. There are daily freight and passenger trains to Abidjan. During
the reign of Sankara, the line was extended to Kaya (bataille du rail)
in order to make it easier to transport the mineral resources from the
Sahel. After his fall, the extension was stopped, the route is now only
passable to Ouagadougou.
The country can be reached via two
international airports; European airlines serving the capital are Air
France, Brussels Airlines and the charter company Point-Afrique Voyages.
The national airline is Air Burkina.
The level of supply of electricity and water is very low throughout the country. Due to the construction of the new reservoir in Ziga near Ouagadougou, the situation has somewhat eased, at least for the capital. The State electricity Company is the SONABEL, and ONEA is responsible for the water. For the most part, electricity is obtained from the combustion of imported fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas). Another part of the electricity demand is covered by imports from Ghana and the Ivory Coast; in addition, a hydroelectric power station at the Kompienga reservoir supplies electricity. Solar energy is used for the selective power supply of hospitals or schools, especially in rural areas.
The laying of telephone lines has hardly been financially feasible so far. Accordingly, the business of private "telecenters" is flourishing, in which private individuals provide a small number of telephone sets for public use. Mobile telephony offers new possibilities; three providers also provide the necessary network coverage in smaller cities. Internet access exists for private individuals and small organizations either as a dial-up line ("dial-in") via the ONATEL telephone lines or via the Internet cafés booming in the larger cities. Since 2006, access via ADSL has been possible throughout the country. Larger organizations also have dedicated lines to the Internet providers. The number of regular Internet users is estimated at 30,000. According to studies, Burkinians use the Internet less for researching information than for communicating by e-mail or instant messaging.
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest and least developed
countries in the world and is counted among the Heavily Indebted poor
Countries (HIPC). In 2005, the cancellation of its external debt was
agreed as part of the HIPC debt relief initiative of the World Bank and
the IMF. In the Human Development Index of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), Burkina Faso was ranked 181st out of 187
countries surveyed in 2013.
The gross domestic product (GDP)
after purchasing power parity in 2011 was about $ 32.8 billion, which
corresponds to a value of $ 1800 per capita. The increase in GDP in 2016
was 5.9%, the inflation rate in 2016 -0.2%. However, economic growth
only benefits a small, Mossi-dominated stratum in the urban centers.
About 61% of the population have to make do with less than one US dollar
per day.
The feared collapse of the economy as a result of the
conflicts in the Ivory Coast has largely failed to materialize; Burkina
Faso has strengthened ties with other neighboring countries in good
time, especially with Ghana.
About 80% of the population is engaged in subsistence
farming, that is, the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and cereals for
their own needs. The basic needs of the food supply are covered by the
cultivation of millet, maize, sorghum, fonio and rice, which takes up
about 85% of the 110,000 km2 of agriculturally usable area of the
country. In addition, yam root, cassava and sugar cane are grown in the
south of the country. Important for export are peanuts and especially
cotton, the main export commodity of the country. The unfavorable
climatic conditions make it difficult to practice agriculture; annual
fluctuations in rainfall can cause droughts and thus local famines
(especially in the north of the country).
Despite the good
quality of Burkinabe cotton, the country has great problems selling its
crop yields on the world market due to high agricultural subsidies in
Western industrialized countries. For example, their cotton industry is
partly subsidized by the United States with three to four billion US
dollars per year; the remaining part is made up of the EU's subsidy
payments of about 700 million euros. President Blaise Compaoré, together
with other African states concerned, campaigned for the abolition of
these subsidies and free access of African cotton to the world market.
The economy of Burkina Faso, which is largely dependent on the export of
cotton (50% of exports), has to suffer from fluctuating world market
prices. The semi-state-owned company Sofitex is the third largest
textile company in Africa. Since the closure of the Faso Fani factory in
2000, no further processing of cotton on a larger scale has been
possible in Burkina Faso.
With a project for the cultivation of
wheat, the country was to become independent of imports; the first
harvest was harvested in 2006.
Burkina Faso is an exporter of
livestock (mainly cattle) to neighboring countries. Traditionally,
cattle breeding is carried out by the nomadic Fulbe people. Due to the
low productivity and the lack of processing possibilities, the share of
the agricultural sector in the gross domestic product (GDP) is only 35%
(2012; for comparison, services: 38%).
Only a few of the numerous
natural resources are worth mining; gold has been mined for centuries
and is one of the most important sources of income in the country. The
Canadian company Orezone sees great potential in the gold deposits of
Burkina Faso. Manganese mining is to be expanded in the future. The main
problem is transport; the deposits are mainly located in the north,
which is poorly developed in terms of transport technology. The planned
extension of Burkina Faso's only railway line to the mines of Tambao was
never completed.
Since 2009, gold has been the most important
export item; in 2013, 72% of export revenues were generated by gold
exports, with the proceeds mainly flowing abroad (especially to Canada).
Its mining developed into the driving force of economic growth, which,
however, collapsed in 2014/15 as a result of the decline in the price of
gold and cotton.
With the connection to the railway line to Abidjan in
1933, industrial development could begin in Bobo-Dioulasso; a brewery,
an oil mill and a factory for motorized bicycles were founded. The
proximity to the cotton-growing areas in the north-west of the country
played a major role in the economic upswing of the city. It was not
until 30 years later that the railway to Ouagadougou was completed, the
prerequisite for the emergence of industrial enterprises. Today, 64% of
them are located in the capital, mainly in the food industry. After
independence, a cotton spinning mill was established in Koudougou, but
it soon had to stop its work. A resuscitation attempt by Faso Fani
failed in 2000. In Banfora there is a large sugar factory (SOSUCO) and
the Grands Moulins du Burkina, which mainly produce flour. Since 2004,
Mégamonde has been assembling Chinese-made cars under the Tenga brand
name in Ouagadougou.
State-owned companies have been privatized
in recent years, according to the telecommunications company ONATEL; 51%
of the ownership shares have been held by the Moroccan Maroc Telecom
since 2006.
The Lebanese community, which has been present in the
country since about 1900, has a strong presence in the trade,
construction and service sectors.
Many people are employed in the
informal sector; they earn their living by trading on the street or
small services. As a result, tax revenues escape the state; unemployment
figures are significantly distorted by this phenomenon. About 45% of the
inhabitants live below the poverty line.
The state budget in 2016 included expenditures of the
equivalent of 2.77 billion US dollars, which were offset by revenues of
the equivalent of 2.44 billion US dollars. This results in a budget
deficit of 2.8% of GDP.
The national debt reached a new record
level of 28.3% of gross domestic product in 2014 (compared to 2007:
20.9%).
The literacy rate in Burkina Faso is 41.2%, which is
one of the lowest in the world. This is due to the world's lowest
average school attendance of over-25s, which is just 1.6 years (women:
1.1 and men 2.3). A glimmer of hope is the expected duration of school
attendance of the current generation of students, which is 9.3 years.
However, primary education is characterized by multifaceted problems.
The language of instruction is French; there are approaches to bilingual
education (satellite schools of UNESCO). Many children of primary school
age do not go to school, but the school is not the only educational
opportunity, along with traditional education, Koranic schools and
institutions of non-governmental organizations.
The universities
of the country include the University of Ouagadougou, the Burkina
Institute of Technology and the Université Catholique de l'Afrique de
l'Ouest, which is represented in several West African states.
The primary school period lasts six years. The fact that the language of instruction is French prevents many children from attending school who only speak their native indigenous language. There are state, private and Catholic schools, as a rule, they are free, but they require registration and administrative fees. This is another reason for many not to go to school, because few parents can pay for them. School notebooks and pens also have to be paid for themselves, and in some parts of the country the local population has to help with the construction of school buildings. There are up to 120 children in a school class. Many schools lack electricity and water connections.
The approximately 60 ethnic groups in Burkina Faso
provide for a great variety of cultural traditions; dance, music and the
use of masks are formative for the Sudanese savannah peoples. On many
occasions of community life, festivals and ceremonies are held, during
which the cultural repertoire is presented. Important are the Griots,
who are responsible for the preservation and transmission of history and
traditions. This is done by oral tradition from one generation to the
next.
Important is the handicraft, which employs about 960,000
people and to which the biennial SIAO fair is dedicated. In addition to
works made of leather and wood, basket weaving and pottery, bronze cast
sculptures made using the Lost Form process are characteristic of
Burkina Faso's handicrafts.
Jean-Luc Bambara is a sculptor who
also exhibits in Europe. The Sculptures de Laongo is a sculpture park
created in 1989, where, among other things, granite stones are worked by
national and international artists.
Two cultural events that take
place regularly are the Semaine Nationale de la Culture (SNC) in
Bobo-Dioulasso and the Nuits Atypiques de Koudougou (NAK) in Koudougou.
The festival Dilembu au Gulmu (FESDIG) has been held annually in the
East since 2004.
Traditional African music accompanies the everyday
life of people in Burkina Faso and is closely integrated into it. The
traditional music of the ethnic groups of Burkina Faso is characterized
by different types of drums and the balafon. The balafon group Farafina
from Bobo-Dioulasso, which has existed in a changing line-up since 1978,
has worked with the Rolling Stones, among others, and, like Gabin
Dabiré, has been able to celebrate success in Europe. Extremely popular
was Black So Man, who was known for his critical lyrics and died in 2002
as a result of a car accident in 1997. Victor Démé, who released his
first solo album in 2008 after numerous guest appearances, also receives
a lot of attention at home and abroad.
The Kundé d'Or has been
awarded as an important music prize since 2001. So far, Bil Aka Kora has
won the award twice for his music based on the traditional rhythms of
Kassena. Other winners were solo Dja Kabaco, Georges Ouédraogo, who was
active from 1973 until his death in 2012, the singer Amity Méria and
Yoni, who, like Ouédraogo, brings together modern and traditional
melodies and rhythms to musique tradi-moderne. The 2009 winner was Hamed
Smani. As representatives of Burkinabe hip-hop, producer, rapper and
political activist Smockey, Faso Kombat and the group Yeleen were
awarded. Excellent artists of the last years are Eugène Kounker, Dez
Altino, Floby and Alif Naaba. Every year the Waga Hip Hop festival takes
place with artists from Africa and Europe.
Well-known reggae
artists are Zêdess and Sams'K Le Jah, who, like Smockey, is an activist
in the civic movement Le Balai Citoyen. Jazz à Ouaga is a regularly held
jazz festival.
In October 2011, the Afrika Opera Village was
opened in Laongo, near Ouagadougou, according to the plans of the
architect Diébédo Francis Kéré. After the death of the initiator
Christoph Schlingensief, his widow Aino Laberenz continues the work.
Burkina Faso is considered an important center of
African cinema and has been hosting the FESPACO Pan-African film
Festival since 1972, which has been held every two years since 1979 and
attracts cinephiles from all over the world. The Burkinabe film is
supported by the government, but is dependent on foreign funding.
For the first time, films by Catholic missionaries were shown in
Upper Volta in the 1920s. in 1947, the first film was shot in Upper
Volta; Paysan noir ou Famoro le tyran by Georges Régnier, which was
produced in the service of colonial propaganda. After independence, the
French created numerous ethnographic films, while Upper Voltaic in-house
productions were mostly devoted to an educational mission for the
population. From 1980, the production of feature films began to
increase. Wend Kuuni, the first feature-length film by Gaston Kaboré,
brought a new aesthetic and quality to the cinema of Africa and gained
international recognition. in 1990, Tilaï was awarded the Grand Jury
Prize at the Cannes International Film Festival by Idrissa Ouédraogo,
and his film Kini and Adams was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1997
festival. Since the 1990s, filmmakers such as Pierre Yaméogo, Dani
Kouyaté or Fanta Régina Nacro have gained international attention.
The most famous actor is Sotigui Kouyaté - father of Dani Kouyaté -
who starred in films by Peter Brook, among others.
Due to the lack of writing in the Sudanese cultures
and thus the tradition of oral tradition as well as the high proportion
of illiterates in the population, literature has only secondary
importance in today's Burkina Faso. At the time of literary development
in other parts of West Africa, the country's intellectuals were engaged
in political engagement – in particular, the struggle for the
restoration of Upper Volta after the Second World War, and so the
history of literature begins only after independence. While Antoine Dim
Delobsom had already published a work on the myths and legends of the
Mossi in 1934, the Crépuscule des temps anciens by Nazi Boni, published
in 1962, is considered the beginning of Burkinabe literature. In this
novel, which is in the tradition of the Négritude, Boni describes the
threat of colonization to the traditional structures and values of his
ethnic group, the Bwaba. In the following years, only a few works were
published, including by Pierre Dabiré, Roger Nikiéma and Titinga
Frédéric Pacéré.
Only with the revolution did the state begin to
promote literature. In addition to an appreciation of the literature and
motivation of the authors, this also had an influence on the processed
topics of literature, which for the most part submits to the official
state educational mission and the transmission of traditional values and
develops little critical potential, since it depends on the goodwill of
the state sponsors. Criticism is at best, as with Norbert Zongo or
Pierre Claver Ilboudo, encrypted or elevated to an abstract level, for
example by moving the plot to fictional countries. Due to a lack of
publishing and a market for literature, most of the works are produced
in-house in low circulation. Contemporary literature is characterized by
women, including Monique Ilboudo, Bernadette Sanou and Sophie Kam.
Among the great intellectuals of Africa is Joseph Ki-Zerbo, who was
the first African to publish a work on the history of the continent and
was politically engaged until his death.
The National Olympic Committee Comité National
Olympique et des Sports Burkinabè (CNOSB), which was recognized by the
IOC in 1972, sent five athletes to the 2012 Olympic Games in London; two
track and field athletes, two swimmers and a judoka.
Special
Olympics Burkina Faso was founded in 1991 and has participated in
Special Olympics World Games several times. The association had
registered its participation in the Special Olympics World Summer Games
2023 in Berlin. The delegation will be supervised by the district of
Günzburg before the games as part of the Host Town Program.
The
most popular sport in Burkina Faso is football, the national federation
is the Fédération Burkinabè de Football (FBF), which was founded with
independence in 1960 and became a member of the world association FIFA
in 1964. The biggest successes of the national team were the second
place at the 2013 African Championship and the fourth place at the 1998
African Championship in their own country. 16 clubs compete for the
Burkinabe championship every year, the majority of which are from
Ouagadougou. Well-known foreign professionals are Charles Kaboré,
Moumouni Dagano or Bertrand Traoré. The U-17 national team finished
third at the 2001 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Cycling is considered a
national sport in Burkina Faso. The Tour du Faso and Boucle du Coton
cycling races are held every year. The former is part of the UCI Africa
Tour. Among the successful cyclists of recent years are Jérémie
Ouédraogo and Abdoul Wahab Sawadogo.
The martial art known as
lutte traditionnelle is a kind of wrestling and is practiced especially
by the Sanan. A competition is held annually in Toma.
The non-governmental organization Reporters Without
Borders sees a satisfactory situation for press freedom in Burkina Faso.
However, it is one of the better ones within Africa.
Since the
beginning of formal democratization in 1990/91, a diverse press market
has developed. However, the freedom of the press guaranteed by the
Constitution is limited on certain issues; for example, in 1999, the
journalist Norbert Zongo was murdered under circumstances that had not
yet been clarified, while he was researching a murder case in the
presidential guard. The problems of the deficient press include low
sales and advertising revenues, lack of technical equipment and training
of journalists. The three daily newspapers published in Ouagadougou are
Sidwaya, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Information,
L'Observateur paalga, founded in 1973, which had to stop its publication
during Sankara's revolution, and Le Pays. L'Express du Faso has been
published in Bobo-Dioulasso since 1998, with a focus on reporting from
Burkina Faso's west. Newspapers critical of the government, published
weekly or biweekly, include L'événement, L'indépendant, Bendré, San
Finna and the satirical weekly Journal du Jeudi. Other weekly newspapers
are L'Opinion and L'hebdomadaire du Burkina.
RTB's state
television has been broadcasting since 1963 and is the only full-length
programme to date. There are private TV channels with CANAL 3 of Groupe
Fadoul and BF1. Satellite television, including the programs of the
French channels TV5MONDE and Canal+ Horizons, can be received, but is
affordable for only a few.
Radio is the most important
information medium in Burkina Faso. Since 1959, the state radio has been
broadcasting from RTB, which also maintains the channel Canal
arc-en-ciel. Numerous private radio stations have been created in recent
years, Horizon FM was one of the first private stations in West Africa
when it was founded, followed by Ouaga FM, Radio Pulsar or Savane FM,
among others. Numerous denominational stations such as Radio Évangile
Développement or Radio Ave Maria offer information for the rural
population in addition to religious topics.
The Burkinabe
Internet offers include LeFaso.net , which offers a compilation of
newspaper articles, Burkina 24 as well as Fasozine.com , which is
considered to be the first Internet daily newspaper of West Africa. The
number of regular Internet users is estimated at 30,000 (2006).
According to studies, Burkinians use the Internet less for researching
information than for communicating by e-mail or instant messaging.
The main staple foods are rice and tô, a porridge made
from corn, millet or sorghum. For this, sauces based on tomatoes,
vegetables, hibiscus leaves, okra, baobab leaves or peanut butter are
eaten, with or without the addition of meat. As riz gras/riz au gras,
rice is cooked together with tomatoes and onions. The basis for dishes
are also couscous made from rice, fonio millet or cassava (called
attiéké), as well as foufou (corn porridge), originating from the
coastal countries, which is often eaten with a sauce made from the
fruits of the oil palm (sauce graines). Meat mostly comes from beef,
mutton, goat, chicken or guinea fowl, game meat from savannah animals
and fish are also eaten. Fried chickens are very popular and are known
as poulets télévisions ("television chickens"). They are so named
because they are fried on the roadside in rectangular glass boxes. Fried
plantains are called aloco, there are also fried sweet potatoes and
yams, each of which can be served with a hot sauce. Caterpillars are
also eaten in Burkina Faso. Soumbala is a spice that is used, for
example, in the Lyela for riz au soumbala.
Soft drinks are ginger
juice, tamarind juice, the millet flour water zom-koom or bissap, a
drink made from dried rosella leaves. In the southwest, especially in
Bobo-Dioulasso, there is also horchata, a drink made from ground
almonds. Local alcoholic drinks are the millet beer Dolo, palm wine and
palm schnapps, which, however, was banned because of its dangerousness.
Local beer brands are Brakina and such.B.Bra., Mineral water brands
including Lafi and Jirma.
The 14 public holidays in Burkina Faso, in addition to those that commemorate national events, are mostly religious festivals of Christianity or Islam. In 2000, the holidays commemorating Thomas Sankara's revolution (August 4) and overthrow (October 15) were removed from the calendar by the parliament. December 11, which, like August 5, honors the independence of the then Upper Volta, was introduced in order to be able to hold the celebrations in the dry season after the harvest season. The central celebrations with a big parade on this occasion take place every year alternately in a different regional capital. Some time ago, Whit Monday was canceled as a holiday. If a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday will be free of work.