Life of uncertainty

Burkina Faso means “land of the honourable people”. It’s the name that was chosen by former revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara in 1984. Before that, the country had been baptised Upper Volta by the French colonial rulers. Sankara broke with the colonial past and wanted to lead his nation to a brighter future. To this day, he is revered for this.

Unfortunately the Burkinabes continue to live in one of the poorest countries in the world. When looking at the headlines from the past months and years, it’s clear that it’s getting more and more dangerous.

• Mindestens 16 Tote bei Angriff auf Moschee in Burkina Faso (Article from 12.10.2019)
• Viele Opfer bei Anschlag auf Minenarbeiter in Burkina Faso (Article from 7.11.2019)
• How jihadists struck gold in Africa’s Sahel (Article from 22.11.2019)
• Burkina: quatre employés de Huawei retrouvés 24 heures après leur disparition (Article from 24.11.2019)
• Burkina Faso : 35 civils tués lors d’une attaque meurtrière dans le nord (Article from 26.12.2019)
• Burkina : quatorze personnes tuées dans l’explosion d’un car dans le Nord-Ouest (Article from 5.1.2020)
• Au moins 36 civils tués dans une attaque dans le Nord du Burkina Faso (Article from 22.1.2020)
• 39 Tote nach Angriff auf Dorf (Article from 28.1.2020)
• Au nord du Burkina Faso, dix-huit civils tués dans une attaque djihadiste (Article from 3.2.2020)
• Echo der Zeit vom 25.02.2020 (Title of the programme: "Erster Coronavirus-Fall in der Schweiz". From minute 30 it's all about Burkina Faso (in German only))

Since early 2015, at least 700 people have died from violent conflicts and attacks in Burkina Faso according to estimates by the French press agency AFP. The UN puts the number of internally displaced persons at 560,000 i.e. people that fled within the country. From violence and terror as well as a lack of opportunities, notably in terms of income.