Burkina Faso

Coordinates: 13°N 2°W / 13°N 2°W / 13; -2

Burkina Faso (ⁱ/bərˈkiːnə ˌfɑːsoʊ/ bər-KEE-nə FAH-soh; French: [buʁkina faso]) is a landlocked country in West Africa around 274,200 square kilometres (105,900 sq mi) in size. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north; Niger to the east; Benin to the southeast; Togo and Ghana to the south; and Ivory Coast to the southwest. Its capital is Ouagadougou. As of 2014, its population was estimated at just over 17.3 million.

Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed "Burkina Faso" on 4 August 1984 by then-President Thomas Sankara. Residents of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabé (/bərˈkiːnəbeɪ/ bər-KEE-nə-bay). French is an official language of government and business.

Before the conquest of what is now Burkina Faso by the French and other colonial powers during the late 19th century the country was ruled by various ethnic groups including the Mossi kingdoms. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes. Blaise Compaoré was the most recent president and ruled the country from 1987 until he was ousted from power by the popular youth upheaval of 31 October 2014. This resulted in a semi-presidential republic which lasted from October 2014 to September 2015. On 17 September 2015 the provisional government was in turn toppled by an apparent military coup d'état carried out by the Regiment of Presidential Security. On 24 September 2015, after pressure from the African Union, ECOWAS, and the armed forces, the military junta agreed to step down, and Michel Kafando was reinstated as Acting President.

Burkina 24

Burkina 24 (pronounced Burkina vingt-quatre) is a Burkina Faso news website. The site offers news and covers politics, business, entertainment, technology, fashion, culture, and local news. Burkina 24 was launched on June 1, 2011 in Montreal, Canada by three young entrepreneurs from Burkina Faso's diaspora.

Awards

Burkina 24also received the special prize of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal IN 2014.

References

External links

Air Burkina

Air Burkina SA is the national airline of Burkina Faso, operating scheduled services to one domestic destination, Bobo-Dioulasso, as well as regional services to Togo, Benin, Mali, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana. It is majority owned by an AKFED/IPS consortium, and operates from its main base at Ouagadougou Airport.

History

The airline was established on 17 March 1967 under the name Air Volta. It was originally part owned by the Burkinabé government, part by Air France and part privately held. After the demise of Air Afrique, the state of Burkina Faso privatised Air Burkina on 21 February 2001, transferring 56% of the shares to the AKFED/IPS consortium (part of the Aga Khan Development Network).

It purchased its first aircraft, an Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante, in 1978, and added a second, a Fokker F28, in 1983. The airline has had serious debt problems, reaching a deficit of one billion CFA francs in 1992 (approx. €1,500,000). However, by the time of privatization in 2001, the debt had largely been alleviated and the company was predicting an annual revenue of around 3.5 billion CFA francs (more than €5,000,000). The company saw a general strike in 2002, when workers demanded a 25% wage increase. In the resulting conflict, the director-general of Air Burkina was forced to resign.