Independence from France came to Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) in 1960.
Governmental instability during the 1970s and 1980s was followed by multiparty
elections in the early 1990s. Several hundred thousand farm workers migrate south
every year to Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. |
Until the end of the 19th century, the history of Burkina Faso was dominated
by the empire-building Mossi, who are believed to have come from central or eastern
Africa sometime in the 11th century. For centuries, the Mossi peasant was both
farmer and soldier, and the Mossi people were able to defend their religious beliefs
and social structure against forcible attempts to convert them to Islam by Muslims
from the northwest.
When the French arrived and claimed the area in 1896, Mossi
resistance ended with the capture of their capital at Ouagadougou. In 1919, certain
provinces from Cote d'Ivoire were united into a separate colony called the Upper
Volta in the French West Africa federation. In 1932, the new colony was dismembered
in a move to economize; it was reconstituted in 1937 as an administrative division
called the Upper Coast. After World War II, the Mossi renewed their pressure for
separate territorial status and on September 4, 1947, Upper Volta became a French
West African territory again in its own right.
A revision in the organization
of French Overseas Territories began with the passage of the Basic Law (Loi Cadre)
of July 23, 1956. This act was followed by reorganizational measures approved
by the French parliament early in 1957 that ensured a large degree of self-government
for individual territories. Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French
community on December 11, 1958.
Upper Volta achieved independence on August
5, 1960. The first president, Maurice Yameogo, was the leader of the Voltaic Democratic
Union (UDV). The 1960 constitution provided for election by universal suffrage
of a president and a national assembly for 5-year terms. Soon after coming to
power, Yameogo banned all political parties other than the UDV. The government
lasted until 1966 when after much unrest-mass demonstrations and strikes by students,
labor unions, and civil servants-the military intervened.
The military coup
deposed Yameogo, suspended the constitution, dissolved the National Assembly,
and placed Lt. Col. Aboukar Sangoule Lamizana at the head of a government of senior
army officers. The army remained in power for 4 years, and on June 14, 1970, the
Voltans ratified a new constitution that established a 4-year transition period
toward complete civilian rule. Lamizana remained in power throughout the 1970s
as president of military or mixed civil-military governments. After conflict over
the 1970 constitution, a new constitution was written and approved in 1977, and
Lamizana was reelected by open elections in 1978.
Lamizana's government faced
problems with the country's traditionally powerful trade unions, and on November
25, 1980, Col. Saye Zerbo overthrew President Lamizana in a bloodless coup. Colonel
Zerbo established the Military Committee of Recovery for National Progress as
the supreme governmental authority, thus eradicating the 1977 constitution.
Zerbo also encountered resistance from trade unions and was overthrown two years
later, on November 7, 1982, by Maj. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo and the Council
of Popular Salvation (CSP). The CSP continued to ban political parties and organizations,
yet promised a transition to civilian rule and a new constitution.
infighting developed between moderates in the CSP and the radicals, led by Capt.
Thomas Sankara who was appointed prime minister in January 1983. The internal
political struggle and Sankara's leftist rhetoric led to his arrest and subsequent
efforts to bring about his release, directed by Capt. Blaise Compaore. This release
effort resulted in yet another military coup d'etat on August 4, 1983.
the coup, Sankara formed the National Council for the Revolution (CNR), with himself
as president. Sankara also established Committees for the Defense of the Revolution
(CDRs) to "mobilize the masses" and implement the CNR's revolutionary programs.
The CNR, whose exact membership remained secret until the end, contained two small
intellectual Marxist-Leninist groups. Sankara, Compaore, Capt. Henri Zongo, and
Maj. Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lengani-all leftist military officers-dominated the
On August 4, 1984, Upper Volta changed its name to Burkina Faso, meaning
"the country of honorable people." Sankara, a charismatic leader, sought by word,
deed, and example to mobilize the masses and launch a massive bootstrap development
movement. But many of the strict austerity measures taken by Sankara met with
growing resistance and disagreement. Despite his initial popularity and personal
charisma, problems began to surface in the implementation of the revolutionary
The CDRs, which were formed as popular mass organizations, deteriorated
in some areas into gangs of armed thugs and clashed with several trade unions.
Tensions over the repressive tactics of the government and its overall direction
mounted steadily. On October 15, 1987, Sankara was assassinated in a coup which
brought Capt. Blaise Compaore to power.
Compaore, Capt. Henri Zongo, and Maj.
Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lengani formed the Popular Front (FP), which pledged to
continue and pursue the goals of the revolution and to "rectify" Sankara's "deviations"
from the original aims. The new government, realizing the need for popular support,
tacitly moderated many of Sankara's policies. As part of a much-discussed political
"opening" process, several political organizations, three of them non-Marxist,
were accepted under an umbrella political organization created in June 1989 by
Some members of the leftist Organisation pour le Democratie Populaire/Movement
du Travail (ODP/MT) were against the admission of non-Marxist groups in the
front. On September 18, 1989, while Compaore was returning from a two-week trip
to Asia, Lengani and Zongo were accused of plotting to overthrow the Popular Front.
They were arrested and summarily executed the same night. Compaore reorganized
the government, appointed several new ministers, and assumed the portfolio of
Minister of Defense and Security. On December 23, 1989, a presidential security
detail arrested about 30 civilians and military personnel accused of plotting
a coup in collaboration with the Burkinabe external opposition.