Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso A landlocked country in western Africa, which was seized by the French in 1896. As the colony of Upper Volta it was integrated into French West Africa in 1919, but in 1932 it was divided up and its components were added to the colonies of the Soudan, the Côte d'Ivoire, and Niger. Reconstituted as one territory within the French Union in 1947, it joined the French Community in 1958 as the autonomous Republic of Volta (renamed Upper Volta in 1959) before achieving independence on 5 August 1960. Following the corrupt and authoritarian rule of the first President, Maurice Yaméogo (b. 1921), politics were marked by instability, and became polarized between the left (trade unions, parties, and a radical wing of the army leadership) and the right (the Roman Catholic Church, parts of the military, and politicians favourable towards France). Following a military coup in early 1966 General Lamizana assumed the presidency. Political parties were disallowed 1974–6, but in 1977 Lamizana devised a new Constitution which was accepted by a plebiscite, whereupon he became democratically elected in May 1978. He was deposed by a bloodless military coup on 25 November 1980, and after two further coups power was assumed by Thomas Sankara (b. 1950) on 5 August 1983, who changed the country's name to Burkina Faso.

Sankara inaugurated a unique reform programme which aimed at improving the living standards of underprivileged sections of society, particularly women and peasants. He battled against corruption and reduced the proportion of state expenditure taken up by salaries in the public sector from 70 to 40 per cent. This challenged many entrenched interest groups, which supported a coup against him on 15 October 1987 in which he lost his life. His erstwhile colleague, and leader of the coup, Captain Blaise Compaoré (b. 1951), pursued more moderate policies and re-established a nominal democracy. He was confirmed in office in the presidential elections of 1991 and 1998, though the opposition accused him of corruption, political violence, and electoral fraud. One of the world's poorest countries with an annual Gross Domestic Product per head of around $200, in 2000 Burkina Faso was granted debt relief of US$400 million by the IMF and the International Development Agency. In 2002 it qualified for the HIPC Initiative.