BURKINA FASO

 

EX UPPER VOLTA

Burkina Faso

Capital : OUAGADOUGOU

Currency : 1 Franc CFA = 100 Centimes

Former French colony of Upper Volta obtained independence in 1960. The current name of the country (Burkina Faso) dated August 4, 1984, under the chairmanship of the revolutionary Thomas Sankara (1).

(1) Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara, regarded by some as the "African Che Guevara" was born December 21, 1949 in Yako in Upper Volta and murdered October 15, 1987 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. He was a soldier and politician Pan-Africanist and Third World Burkinabe.

He embodied and led the Burkinabé revolution of August 4, 1983 until his assassination during a coup that brought to power Blaise Compaoré, October 15, 1987. In particular, he changed the name of Upper Volta, a product of colonization, a name derived from traditional African Burkina Faso, the country of honest men and led a policy of emancipation of the people of Burkina Faso to its murder. His government undertook major reforms to fight corruption and improve education, agriculture and the status of women. His revolutionary program met with strong opposition from the traditional power that marginalized and middle class small but relatively powerful.