Burkina Faso

Landlocked country in west Africa, bounded east by Niger, northwest and west by Mali, and south by Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

Government
The 1991 constitution provides for a 111-member national assembly, Assemblée des Députés Populaires (ADP), elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, and a president, similarly elected for five years, renewable only once. The president appoints a prime minister and a council of ministers.

History
The area known from 1984 as Burkina Faso was invaded in the 11th–13th centuries by the Mossi people, whose powerful warrior kingdoms lasted for over 500 years. In the 1890s it became a province of French West Africa, and in 1919 a separate colony, known as Upper Volta. In 1958 it became a self-governing republic and in 1960 achieved full independence with Maurice Yaméogo as president.

Military rule
In 1966 Col Sangoulé Lamizana seized power as president and prime minister in a military coup. He suspended the constitution, dissolved the national assembly, banned political activity, and set up a supreme council of the armed forces as the instrument of government. In 1969 the ban on political activity was lifted, and in 1970 a referendum approved a new constitution, based on civilian rule, but in 1974 Lamizana dissolved the national assembly and returned to military rule.

Lamizana overthrown
In 1977 a referendum approved a return to civilian government and the Volta Democratic Union (UDV) won a majority in the 1978 national assembly elections, and Lamizana became president. But a deteriorating economy led to strikes, and in 1980 Col Zerbo overthrew Lamizana in a bloodless coup and formed a government of national recovery.

Country renamed Burkina Faso
In 1982 Zerbo was ousted, and Maj Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo emerged as leader of a military regime, with Capt Thomas Sankara as prime minister. In 1983 Sankara seized power in another coup, becoming president and ruling through a council of ministers. Opposition members were arrested, the national assembly was dissolved, and a National Revolutionary Council (CNR) set up. In 1984 Sankara renamed the country Burkina Faso (‘land of upright men’), symbolizing a break with its colonial past; his government strengthened ties with Ghana and established links with Benin and Libya.

Compaoré dominant
Sankara was killed in October 1987 in a military coup led by a former close colleague, Capt Blaise Compaoré. Throughout 1991 Compaoré resisted calls for an all-party national conference, but a new constitution was approved. He was re-elected president in 1992, but there were a large number of abstentions because the opposition boycotted the poll. The ruling Popular Front coalition won a clear majority in multiparty assembly elections in 2003, amid claims of electoral fraud. The opposition remained divided and Compaoré was re-elected president in 1998 and 2005 and his Congress for Democracy and Progress party won majorities in what were substantially free and fair assembly elections in 1997 and 2002.