Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso

Population: 17.4 mn.
GDP: 10.3 bn.
Debt: 2.1 bn.
Overview:

Easy victories in local elections in December 2012 showed that President Blaise Compaoré's regime has rebuilt support after the army mutinies that shook Burkina Faso in 2011. Compaoré will try to engineer another term in 2015 but faces a lively challenge from former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Zéphirin Diabré. Prime Minister Luc-Adolphe Tiao is under pressure on services and living standards.

news from Burkina Faso

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Found 17 articles.

Displaying 1-10 out of 17 results.

  • Vol 54 No 10
  •  10th May 2013

Keeping up with the Compaorés

The President’s control of national politics may be sure and his international backing stronger than ever but his succession strategy is risky

  • Vol 54 No 10
  •  10th May 2013

Pillars of the regime

President Blaise Compaoré is married to Chantal Terrasson de Fougères, a protégée of the late Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny. She runs several businesses and charities.

  • Vol 54 No 10
  •  10th May 2013

The economic underpinnings

Burkina Faso is enjoying a mining boom which provides the ruling clan with wiggle room. Gold is now the leading source of export earnings, followed by the traditional main export, cotton.

  • Vol 52 No 9
  •  29th April 2011

Beau Blaise loses it

After his regional mediation, President Compaoré is now threatened by a national crisis of his own making

  • Vol 51 No 24
  •  3rd December 2010

Modesty Blaise

Apathy and a chronically low turn out meant that President Compaoré could have won comfortably without bothering to steal votes

  • Vol 50 No 22
  •  6th November 2009

To catch a thief

The choice of Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaoré as chief mediator in Guinea's worsening crisis is curious, given that the Burkinabé leader, in league with Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, had been plotting against the previous Guinean regime under ...

  • Vol 50 No 5
  •  6th March 2009

A brutal family business

President Blaise Compaoré is getting ready for his re-election in November next year, two decades after the murder of Thomas Sankara

  • Vol 50 No 5
  •  6th March 2009

Waiting in the wings

François Compaoré, the President's brother, and a lawyer named Sankara (but no relation) are just some of the applicants queuing for the top job

  • Vol 46 No 24
  •  2nd December 2005

Five years

The election was not democratic but the President's allies go on backing him

  • Vol 46 No 24
  •  2nd December 2005

Strong boss, weaker party

There is no challenger to President Blaise Compaoré's dominance of Burkina Faso's politics. If he chooses in 2010, he may amend Article 37 (2000) of the constitution and give himself a third presidential term. He had already served two terms by the...

Displaying 1-10 out of 17 results.