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Events from the year 2005 in Burkina Faso .
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of 274,200 km2 (105,900 sq mi), bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest. It has a population of 20,321,378. Previously called Republic of Upper Volta (1958–1984), it was renamed Burkina Faso by President Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as Burkinabè, and its capital and largest city is Ouagadougou.
The economy of Burkina Faso is based primarily on subsistence farming and livestock raising. Burkina Faso has an average income purchasing-power-parity per capita of $1,900 and nominal per capita of $790 in 2014. More than 80% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture, with only a small fraction directly involved in industry and services. Highly variable rainfall, poor soils, lack of adequate communications and other infrastructure, a low literacy rate, and a stagnant economy are all longstanding problems of this landlocked country. The export economy also remained subject to fluctuations in world prices.
Telecommunications in Burkina Faso include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
The history of Burkina Faso includes the history of various kingdoms within the country, such as the Mossi kingdoms, as well as the later French colonisation of the territory and its independence as the Republic of Upper Volta in 1960.
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was a Burkinabé military officer, Marxist revolutionary, and pan-Africanist, who served as President of Burkina Faso from his coup in 1983 to his deposition and murder in 1987. Viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution, he is commonly referred to as 'Africa's Che Guevara'.
Blaise Compaoré is a Burkinabé-Ivorian former politician who served as the second president of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 2014. He was a close associate of the first president, Thomas Sankara, during the 1980s, and in October 1987, he led a coup d'état during which Sankara was killed. Subsequently, he introduced a policy of 'rectification', overturning the leftist and Third Worldist policies pursued by Sankara. He won elections in 1991, 1998, 2005 and 2010, in what were considered unfair circumstances. His attempt to amend the constitution to extend his 27-year term caused the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. On 31 October 2014, Compaoré resigned, whereupon he fled to the Ivory Coast.
The Agacher Strip War or Christmas War was a war fought by Burkina Faso and Mali over a 160-kilometre-long (100 mi) strip of land along the border in northern Burkina Faso from 25 to 30 December 1985. The war ended in a ceasefire. The Agacher Strip had been subject to a border dispute between Mali and Burkina Faso since the 1960s. Following armed clashes in 1974, both countries agreed to mediation to resolve their differences. Progress on a solution stalled, and in 1983 Burkinabé President Thomas Sankara and Malian President Moussa Traoré decided to have the border dispute settled by the International Court of Justice and subsequently petitioned the body to resolve the issue.
The Catholic Church in Burkina Faso is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. According to the CIA Factbook, in 2018 17 percent of the population are members of the Catholic Church.
Christianity is a minority religion in Burkina Faso. According to The World Factbook in 2019, Christians constitutes approximately 30% of the population, with Catholics representing 23.3% and Protestants 6.5%. According to official government estimates in 2008 the percentages are lower: 23.2% are Christians. The exact percentages might be hard to accurately predict due to a high degree of Syncretism that occurs in the country between Christians or Muslims and Traditional indigenous beliefs.
Events from the year 2007 in Burkina Faso.
Human rights in Burkina Faso are addressed in its constitution, which was ratified in 1991. The 2009 Human Rights Report by the United States Department of State noted concerns regarding restrictions on the press and the operation of the judiciary system. In its 2021 report, Human Rights Watch described the human rights situation in Burkina Faso as being "precarious" in light of ongoing violence committed by Islamists, government security forces, and pro-government militias.
Lux-Development S.A., better known as LuxDev, is the aid and development agency of the government of Luxembourg.
On 4 August 1983 a coup d'état was launched in the Republic of Upper Volta in an event sometimes referred to as the August revolution or Burkinabé revolution. It was carried out by radical elements of the army led by Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré, against the regime of Major Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo. Ouédraogo had been brought to power in a 1982 coup with the Conseil de Salut du Peuple (CSP), a body composed of military officials of different ideological backgrounds. The CSP chose Sankara as Prime Minister of Upper Volta in January 1983. As his tenure progressed, Ouédraogo found himself unable to reconcile the conservative and radical factions of the CSP, whose disagreements were leading to a political stalemate. On 16 May he purged his government of pro-Libyan and anti-French elements, disbanded the CSP, and had Sankara and several other important officials arrested. This move sparked discontent among Sankara's supporters. Sankara was eventually released while one officer, Compaoré, began to organise military resistance to the government.
On 28 October 2019, Islamists shot 16 civilians dead in Pobe Mengao, Burkina Faso after they refused to help the gunmen buy weapons.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Burkina Faso is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Burkina Faso on 9 March 2020. The death of Rose Marie Compaoré, a member of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso, on 18 March marked the first recorded fatality due to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Events in the year 2012 in Burkina Faso.
Events in the year 2010 in Burkina Faso.
An ongoing war and civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels began in August 2015 and has led to the displacement of 1.9 million people and the deaths of at least 2,000 civilians and combatants.
A coup d'état was launched in Burkina Faso on 23 January 2022. Gunfire erupted in front of the presidential residence in the Burkinabé capital Ouagadougou and several military barracks around the city. Soldiers were reported to have seized control of the military base in the capital. However, the government denied there was an ongoing coup in the country. Several hours later, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was reported to have been detained by the soldiers at the military camp in the capital. On 24 January, the military announced on television that Kaboré had been deposed from his position as president. After the announcement, the military declared that the parliament, government and constitution had been dissolved. The coup d'état was led by military officer Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
Islamist insurgency in the Sahel or Jihadist Insurgencies in the Sahel refers to the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel region of West Africa following the 2011 Arab Spring to the present day. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.