Jump to navigation

Vol 50 No 5

Published 6th March 2009


Burkina Faso

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

Western donors think well of Burkinabè President Blaise Compaoré. On 11 February, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of the French President, made Ouagadougou her first port of call as an envoy of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. A month earlier, Burkina Faso's Regional Cooperation Minister, Minata Samaté-Cessouma, had signed an agreement with the French Immigration Minister, Brice Hortefeux, on 'agreed management of migratory flows', which Mali had refused to sign. A significant share of Burkina's aid from the European Development Fund for 2008-2013 (320 million euros of a total 529 mn. euros or US$403 mn. of $667 mn.) comes as budgetary support and is not subject to item-by-item scrutiny. Washington is equally friendly, allocating $480 mn. from the Millennium Challenge Account for poverty reduction projects.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 1794 words.

End of preview

Subscribers: Log in now to read the complete article.

Account Holders: Log in now and use your Account Credit to buy this article. No Credit? Top up your Account now.


If you are logged in, but still cannot access the full text of this article, email customer services or telephone us on +44(0)1638 743633.