According to ehistorylib, in 2005, Burkina Faso had a population of around 13 million people, with the majority being of Mossi ethnicity (49%), followed by Fulani (17%), Gurunsi (13%) and other ethnicities (21%). The economy of Burkina Faso was largely based on subsistence agriculture and the export of agricultural products such as cotton, livestock, coffee and gold. It also relied heavily on foreign aid from countries such as France and the United States. Burkina Faso’s foreign relations were mainly focused on West Africa where it had close ties with its neighbours such as Ghana, Mali and Nigeria. With regards to politics in 2005, Burkina Faso was a semi-presidential republic led by President Blaise Compaore who sought to improve the country’s economic situation through investment in infrastructure and education. He also advocated for increased regional integration through the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Yearbook 2005
Burkina Faso. With just over 80% of the vote, President Blaise Compaoré was re-elected on November 13. Compaoré has ruled Burkina Faso since he took power in a coup in 1987. He had already served two terms of office as elected leader and, according to a rule from 2000, could not really stand for election to a third term. However, the Constitutional Court, with judges appointed by the president himself, granted Compaoré the right to participate in the presidential election because his first term in office had passed when the law change took place.
According to countryaah, Ouagadougou is the capital and one of the major cities within the country of Burkina Faso. Eleven presidential candidates from the divided opposition stood against the incumbent president. Parts of the opposition felt that Compaore’s candidacy was a violation of the Constitution. He was also criticized for using huge sums for his election campaign. An opposition leader boycotted the election, while the leader of the largest opposition party, Gilbert Ouédraogo, did not stand by himself but chose to support Compaoré. His explanation was that no party alone can solve the country’s “enormous problems”.
- Also see abbreviationfinder.org for how the acronym BF stands for the country of Burkina Faso and other meanings of this two-letter abbreviation.
About 1 million people in northern Burkina Faso suffered from food shortages in the fall as a result of drought and grasshoppers, which hit neighboring Niger even more severely. Many people in the countryside were forced to survive on grass and milk from the few goats that were not self-killed or sold. The victims were helped by, among others, the UN Food Agency WFP.
Sangoulé Lamizana, coup general and president 1966-80 in Upper Volta (named Burkina Faso until 1984), died in May 89 years old.
HISTORY
Occupied by France between 1896 and 1901 and, since then, part of French West Africa, the current Burkina Faso obtained full independence in 1960 with the name of Upper Volta, maintained until 1984, when the president T. Sankara he adopted the new name Burkina Faso “home of real men”.
The autonomy movement
In the years after the Second World War, during which a nationalistic movement aimed at autonomy from France was maturing in French West Africa, the political life of the Upper Volta lived above all on reflections and echoes of the initiatives that were developed in the neighboring territories., in particular in the Ivory Coast, Sudan and Senegal, known through the numerous emigrants who were looking for work in the Ivory Coast and Sudan, as well as in Ghana. The few politicians in the country were engaged not so much in the problems of detachment from France, but in the struggles of tribal supremacy within.
After the constitutional referendum of 28 September 1958, in which Upper Volta opted for participation in the Franco-African Community, politics in Upper Volta was dominated by the contradictory requirements of establishing a federal link with the new neighboring states that would have allowed a better economic situation, and not to dangerously oppose the anti-federalist orientation of the Ivory Coast, the country that was most able to help him economically. Thus, after having adhered (January 1959) to the constitution of the Federation of Mali, in the following March the Upper Volta withdrew from it, concluding an agreement (April 4, 1959) with the Ivory Coast, Dahomey and Niger. On 11 July 1960 he obtained independence from France.
October
At least 20 killed in new jihadist acts
October 14
At least 20 people are reported to have been killed by jihadists in three villages in the Seno province of northern Burkina Faso. Even more people are missing after the attacks. The government condemns the act and says that security personnel have been deployed in the three villages.
The Election Commission approves 13 presidential candidates
October 8
Burkina Faso’s Electoral Commission gives 13 candidates the go-ahead to run in the November 22 presidential election. A single woman, Kam Yeli Monique, is among the candidates. Eight candidates are rejected because they have not received the fee they have to pay to participate or the 50 signatures from elected politicians required. A final decision on who may stand up will soon be given by the Constitutional Council. At the same time, observers express concern that around 400,000 voters in the northern and eastern parts of the country have not been able to register due to the lack of security. This is considered to benefit President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré because it is in this part of the country that dissatisfaction with his government is greatest.
