OFFICIAL NAME:
Burkina Faso

Geography
Area: 274,200 sq. km. (106,000 sq. mi.); about the size of Colorado.
Cities: Capital--Ouagadougou (pop.1 million). Other cities--Bobo-Dioulasso (450,000), Koudougou (90,000).
Terrain: Savanna; brushy plains and scattered hills.
Climate: Sahelian; pronounced wet and dry seasons.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Burkinabe (accent on last e).
Population (2002): 12.2 million.
Annual growth rate (2002): 5.64%.
Ethnic
groups: 63 ethnic groups among which are Mossi (almost half of the
total population), Bobo, Mande, Lobi, Fulani, Gourounsi, and Senufo.
Religions: Traditional beliefs 20%, Muslim 55%, Christian 25%.
Languages: French (official), Moore, Dioula, others.
Education: Literacy (2003)--32.25%.
Health: Infant mortality rate (2003)--83/1,000. Life expectancy (2003)--45.7 years.
Work force: Agriculture--92%; industry--2.1%; commerce, services, and government--5.5%.

Government
Type: Republic.
Independence: August 5, 1960.
Constitution: June 11, 1991.
Branches: Executive--president (head of state) prime minister (head of government). Legislative--one chamber. Judiciary--independent.
Subdivisions: 13 regions, 45 provinces, 350 departments.
Political
parties: Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), Alliance for
Democracy Federation/ African Democratic Assembly (ADF/RDA), Party for
Democracy and Progress/Socialist Party (PDP/PS), National Union for
Democracy and Development (UNDD), and numerous other small opposition
parties.
Suffrage: Direct universal.
Central government budget (2004): $540 million.
Defense: 5.5% of government budget.

Economy
GDP (2003): $4.5 billion.
Annual growth rate (2003): 6.5%.
Per capita income (2003): $300.
Avg. inflation rate (2003): 1.8%.
Natural resources (limited quantities): Manganese, gold, limestone, marble, phosphate.
Agriculture (32% of GDP): Products--cotton, millet, sorghum, rice, livestock, peanuts, shea nuts, maize.
Industry (18% of GDP): Type--mining, agricultural processing plants, brewing and bottling, light industry.
Trade (2002): Exports--$264 million: cotton ($130 million), gold, livestock, peanuts, shea nut products. Major markets--European Union, Taiwan. Imports--$650 million.
Official exchange rate: Fixed to the euro. Communaute Financiere Africaine (CFA) francs 653=1 euro (2003: approx. CFA francs 579=U.S.$1).

GEOGRAPHY
Burkina
Faso is a landlocked country located in the middle of West Africa's
"hump." It is geographically in the Sahel--the agricultural region
between the Sahara Desert and the coastal rain forests. Most of central
Burkina Faso lies on a savanna plateau, 200 meters-300 meters (650
ft.-1,000 ft.) above sea level, with fields, brush, and scattered
trees. The largest river is the Mouhoun (Black Volta), which is
partially navigable by small craft. Burkina Faso has West Africa's
largest elephant population. Game preserves also are home to lions,
hippos, monkeys, warthogs, and antelope. Infrastructure and tourism
are, however, not well developed. Annual average rainfall varies from
about 100 centimeters (40 in.) in the south to less than 25 centimeters
(10 in.) in the north and northeast, where hot desert winds accentuate
the dryness of the region. The cooler season, November to February, is
pleasantly warm and dry (but dusty), with cool evenings. March-June can
be very hot. In July-September, the rains bring a 3-month cooler and
greener humid season.

PEOPLE
Burkina
Faso's 12 million people belong to two major West African cultural
groups--the Voltaic and the Mande (whose common language is Dioula).
The Voltaic Mossi make up about one-half of the population. The Mossi
claim descent from warriors who migrated to present-day Burkina Faso
from Ghana and established an empire that lasted more than 800 years.
Predominantly farmers, the Mossi kingdom is still led by the Mogho
Naba, whose court is in Ouagadougou.

Burkina Faso is an ethnically
integrated, secular state. Most of Burkina's people are concentrated in
the south and center of the country, sometimes exceeding 48 per square
kilometer (125/sq. mi.). This population density, high for Africa,
causes migrations of hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe to Cote
d'Ivoire and Ghana, many for seasonal agricultural work. These flows of
workers are obviously affected by external events; the September 2002
coup attempt in Cote d'Ivoire and the ensuing fighting there have meant
that hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe returned to Burkina Faso. A
plurality of Burkinabe are Muslim, but most also adhere to traditional
African religions. The introduction of Islam to Burkina Faso was
initially resisted by the Mossi rulers. Christians, both Roman
Catholics and Protestants, comprise about 25% of the population, with
their largest concentration in urban areas.

Female genital mutilation,
child labor, child trafficking, and social exclusion of accused
sorcerers remain serious problems, although the government has taken
steps in recent years to combat these phenomena. Workers and civil
servants generally have the right to organize unions, engage in
collective bargaining, and strike for better pay and working
conditions. Few Burkinabe have had formal education. Schooling is in
theory free and compulsory until the age of 16, but only about 44% of
Burkina's primary school-age children are enrolled in primary school
due to actual costs of school supplies and school fees and to
opportunity costs of sending a child who could earn money for the
family to school. The University of Ouagadougou, founded in 1974, was
the country's first institution of higher education. The Polytechnical
University in Bobo-Dioulasso was opened in 1995.

HISTORY
Until
the end of the 19th century, the history of Burkina Faso was dominated
by the empire-building Mossi. The French arrived and claimed the area
in 1896, but Mossi resistance ended only with the capture of their
capital Ouagadougou in 1901. The colony of Upper Volta was established
in 1919, but it was dismembered and reconstituted several times until
the present borders were recognized in 1947.

The French administered the
area indirectly through Mossi authorities until independence was
achieved on August 5, 1960. The first President, Maurice Yameogo,
amended the constitution soon after taking office to ban opposition
political parties. His government lasted until 1966, when the first of
several military coups placed Lt. Col. Sangoule Lamizana at the head of
a government of senior army officers. Lamizana remained in power
throughout the 1970s, as President of military and then elected
governments.

With the support of unions
and civil groups, Col. Saye Zerbo overthrew President Lamizana in 1980.
Colonel Zerbo also encountered resistance from trade unions and was
overthrown 2 years later by Maj. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo and the
Council of Popular Salvation (CSP). Factional infighting developed
between moderates in the CSP and radicals led by Capt. Thomas Sankara,
who was appointed Prime Minister in January 1983, but was subsequently
arrested. Efforts to bring about his release, directed by Capt. Blaise
Compaore, resulted in yet another military coup d'etat, led by Sankara
and Compaore on August 4, 1983.

Sankara established the
National Revolutionary Committee with himself as President and vowed to
"mobilize the masses." But the committee's membership remained secret
and was dominated by Marxist-Leninist military officers. In 1984, Upper
Volta changed its name to Burkina Faso, meaning "the country of
honorable people." But many of the strict security and austerity
measures taken by Sankara provoked resistance. Despite his initial
popularity and personal charisma, Sankara was assassinated in a coup
which brought Capt. Blaise Compaore to power in October 1987.

Compaore pledged to pursue
the goals of the revolution but to "rectify" Sankara's "deviations"
from the original aims. In fact, Compaore reversed most of Sankara's
policies and combined the leftist party he headed with more centrist
parties after the 1989 arrest and execution of two colonels who had
supported Compaore and governed with him up to that point.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS  
With
Compaore alone at the helm, a democratic constitution was approved by
referendum in 1991. In December 1991, Compaore was elected President,
running unopposed after the opposition boycotted the election. The
opposition did participate in the following year's legislative
elections, in which the ruling party won a majority of seats.

The government of the
Fourth Republic includes a strong presidency, a prime minister, a
Council of Ministers presided over by the president, a unicameral
National Assembly, and the judiciary. The legislature and judiciary are
nominally independent but remain susceptible to executive influence.

Burkina held multiparty
municipal elections in 1995 and 2000 and legislative elections in 1997
and 2002. Balloting was considered largely free and fair in all
elections. The Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP), the governing
party, won overwhelming majorities in all the elections until the 2002
legislative election, where the CDP won with a small majority of the
111 seats. The opposition made large gains in the 2002 elections.

Compaore won the November
1998 presidential election for a second 7-year term against two
minor-party candidates. But within weeks of Compaore's victory the
domestic opposition took to the streets to protest the December 13,
1998 murder of leading independent journalist Norbert Zongo, whose
investigations of the death of the President's brother's chauffeur
suggested involvement of the Compaore family.

The opposition Collective
Against Impunity--led by human rights activist Halidou Ouedraogo and
including opposition political parties of Prof. Joseph Ki-Zerbo and
(for a while) Hermann Yameogo, son of the first President--challenged
Compaore and his government to bring Zongo's murderers to justice and
make political reforms. The Zongo killings still resonate in Burkina
politics, though not as strongly as in the past. There has been no
significant progress on the investigation of the case.

The current cabinet is
dominated by Compaore and the CDP. Given the fragile roots of
democratic institutions, constitutional checks and balances are seldom
effective in practice. The constitution was amended in 2000 to limit
the president to a 5-year term, renewable once, beginning with the next
presidential election in 2005. The amendment is controversial because
it did not make any mention of retroactivity, meaning that President
Compaore's eligibility to present himself for the 2005 presidential
election is still a matter of debate. Most observers believe that the
2005 election will be a test of Burkina Faso's commitment to democracy,
but the traditionally divided opposition also will have to come
together and present a united front if it hopes to present a challenge
to the ruling party.

Principal Government Officials
President--Blaise Compaore
Prime Minister--Paramanga Ernest Yonli

Ministers
Economy and Development--Seydou Bouda
Foreign Affairs--Youssouf Ouedraogo
Justice--Boureima Badini
Defense--Yero Boly
Security--Djibril Yipene Bassole
Territorial Administration and Decentralization--Moumouni Fabre
Commerce, Enterprise Promotion and Handicrafts--Benoit Outtara
Mines and Energy--Abdoulaye Abdoulkader Cisse
Higher Education and Scientific Research--Laya Sawadogo
Information--Joseph Kahoun
Basic Education and Mass Literacy--Mathieu Ouedraogo
Infrastructure, Housing and Transport--Hippolyte Lingani
Civil Service and Institutional Development--Lassane Sawadogo
Employment, Labor, and Social Security--Alain Ludovic Tou
Agriculture, Water, and Water Resources--Salif Diallo
Environment and Standard of Living--Laurent Sedogo
Regional Cooperation--Jean de Dieu Somda
Parliamentary Relations--Adama Fofana
Communications and Culture--Kilimite Theodore Hien
Health--Bedouma Alain Yoda
Sports and Leisure--Tioundoun Sessouma
Transport and Tourism--Salvador Yameogo
Telecommunications and Post--Justin Tieba Thiombiano
Arts, Culture, and Tourism--Mahamoudou Ouedraogo
Social and Family Affairs--Mariam Lamizana
Animal Resources--Alphonse Bonou
Human Rights Promotion--Monique Ilboudo
Women's Affairs--Gisele Guigma

Ambassador to the United States--Tertius Zongo

Burkina Faso maintains an embassy in the United States at 2340 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-332-5577).

ECONOMY
Burkina
Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per capita
gross national product (GNP) of $300. More than 80% of the population
relies on subsistence agriculture, with only a small fraction directly
involved in industry and services. Drought, poor soil, lack of adequate
communications and other infrastructure, a low literacy rate, and an
economy vulnerable to external shocks are all longstanding problems.
The export economy also remains subject to fluctuations in world
prices.

Burkina remains committed to the
structural adjustment program it launched in 1991, and it has been one
of the first beneficiaries of the World Bank/International Monetary
Fund (IMF) debt-relief and poverty reduction programs for highly
indebted poor countries. At least 20% of the government budget is
financed from international aid, and the majority of infrastructure
investments are externally financed. Growth rates have been more than
5% from the late 1990s through 2003.

Many Burkinabe migrate to
neighboring countries for work, and their remittances provide a
contribution to the economy's balance of payments that is
second only to cotton as a source of foreign exchange earnings.
Political and economic problems in Cote d'Ivoire have had a direct
impact on this source of revenue for millions of Burkina households.
The military crisis in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire negatively affected
trade between the two countries, due to the year-long closure of the
border between Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire from September 2002 to
September 2003. Goods and services, as well as remittances, continue to
flow from Burkinabe living in Cote d'Ivoire, but they have been
rerouted through other countries in the region, such as Togo, Ghana,
and Benin. Commercial and personal traffic across the border is slowly
rebuilding steam.

Burkina is attempting to
improve the economy by developing its mineral resources, improving its
infrastructure, making its agricultural and livestock sectors more
productive and competitive, and stabilizing the supplies and prices of
food grains. Staple crops are millet, sorghum, maize, and rice. The
cash crops are cotton, groundnuts, karite (shea nuts), and sesame.
Livestock, once a major export, has declined.

Manufacturing is limited to
cotton and food processing (mainly in Bobo-Dioulasso) and import
substitution heavily protected by tariffs. Some factories are privately
owned, and others are set to be privatized. Burkina's exploitable
natural resources are limited, although deposits of manganese, zinc,
and gold have attracted the interest of international mining firms.

A railway connects Burkina
with the port of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, 1,150 kilometers (712 mi.)
away. Due to the closure of the border with Cote d'Ivoire, this railway
was not operational between September 2002 and September 2003, but
cargo and limited passenger service are now offered. Primary roads
between main towns in Burkina Faso are paved. Domestic air service and
flights within Africa are limited. Phones and Internet service
providers are relatively reliable, but the cost of utilities is very
high.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Burkina
has excellent relations with European aid donors, as well as Libya,
Taiwan, and other states which have offered financial aid. France and
the European Union, in particular, provide significant aid. Other
donors with large bilateral aid programs include Germany, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada. President Compaore is active in
subregional diplomacy in West Africa.

U.S.-BURKINA RELATIONS
U.S.
relations with Burkina Faso are good but subject to strains in the past
because of the Compaore government's past involvement in arms trading
and other sanctions-breaking activity. In addition to regional peace
and stability, U.S. interests in Burkina are to promote continued
democratization and greater respect for human rights and to encourage
sustainable economic development. Although the Agency for International
Development (USAID) closed its office in Ouagadougou in 1995, about $18
million annually of USAID funding goes to Burkina's development through
non-governmental and regional organizations. The largest is a Food for
Peace school lunch program administered by Catholic Relief Services.
Burkina has been the site of several development success stories. U.S.
leadership in building food security in the Sahel after the 1968-74
drought has been successful in virtually eliminating famine, despite
recurrent drought years. River blindness has been eliminated from the
region. In both cases, the U.S. was the main donor to inter-African
organizations headquartered in Ouagadougou which through sustained
efforts have achieved and consolidated these gains.

In 1995, the Peace Corps program
resumed, after a 10-year absence, with volunteers working in rural
health and education. In 2004, over 90 Peace Corps Volunteers will be
in Burkina Faso, including those working in a new sector of small
business development. U.S. trade with Burkina is still extremely
limited--$10.9 million in U.S. exports and $900,000 in Burkinabe
exports to the U.S. in 2003--but investment possibilities exist,
especially in the mining and communications sectors.

Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--J. Anthony Holmes
Deputy Chief of Mission--Eric Benjaminson
Political/Economic Officer--Elizabeth Bailey
Management Officer--Jennifer Haskell
Peace Corps Country Director--Julie Donahue
Public Affairs Officer--Todd Haskell
Vice Consul--Jonathan Habjan

The U.S. Embassy

in Burkina Faso is located on 602 Avenue Raoul Follereau in
Ouagadougou. Mailing addresses are: International mail: Ambassade des
Etats-Unis, 01 B.P. 35, Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso; Mail from the
U.S.: Department of State, 2440 Ouagadougou Place, Washington, DC
20521-2440. Tel: (226) 30-67-23; fax: (226) 31-23-68 or (226) 30-38-90.
Email address: amembouaga@state.gov.

TRAVEL AND BUSINESS INFORMATION
The
U.S. Department of State's Consular Information Program provides
Consular Information Sheets, Travel Warnings, and Public Announcements.
Consular Information Sheets exist for all countries and include
information on entry requirements, currency regulations, health
conditions, areas of instability, crime and security, political
disturbances, and the addresses of the U.S. posts in the country. Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Public Announcements
are issued as a means to disseminate information quickly about
terrorist threats and other relatively short-term conditions overseas
that pose significant risks to the security of American travelers. Free
copies of this information are available by calling the Bureau of
Consular Affairs at 202-647-5225 or via the fax-on-demand system:
202-647-3000. Consular Information Sheets and Travel Warnings also are
available on the Consular Affairs Internet home page: http://travel.state.gov.
Consular Affairs Tips for Travelers publication series, which contain
information on obtaining passports and planning a safe trip abroad, are
on the Internet and hard copies can be purchased from the
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office,
telephone: 202-512-1800; fax 202-512-2250.

Emergency information concerning
Americans traveling abroad may be obtained from the Office of Overseas
Citizens Services at (202) 647-5225. For after-hours emergencies,
Sundays and holidays, call 202-647-4000.

The National Passport Information Center
(NPIC) is the U.S. Department of State's single, centralized public
contact center for U.S. passport information. Telephone: 1-877-4USA-PPT
(1-877-487-2778). Customer service representatives and operators for
TDD/TTY are available Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Eastern
Time, excluding federal holidays.

Travelers can check the latest health
information with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
Atlanta, Georgia. A hotline at 877-FYI-TRIP (877-394-8747) and a web
site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm
give the most recent health advisories, immunization recommendations or
requirements, and advice on food and drinking water safety for regions
and countries. A booklet entitled Health Information for International
Travel (HHS publication number CDC-95-8280) is available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, tel. (202) 512-1800.

Information on travel conditions, visa
requirements, currency and customs regulations, legal holidays, and
other items of interest to travelers also may be obtained before your
departure from a country's embassy and/or consulates in the U.S. (for
this country, see "Principal Government Officials" listing in this
publication).

U.S. citizens who are long-term visitors or traveling in dangerous areas are encouraged to register their travel via the State Department’s travel registration web site at https://travelregistration.state.gov

or at the Consular section of the U.S. embassy upon arrival in a
country by filling out a short form and sending in a copy of their
passports. This may help family members contact you in case of an
emergency.


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