Burkina Faso 2019
Yearbook 2019
Burkina Faso. The wave of violence that began after the fall of President Blaise Compaore’s 2014 only seemed to grow in strength and the number of casualties since then increased to at least 600 in 2019. noticeable effect. Later that month, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré dismissed the country’s army chief and a week later the entire government resigned, without explaining the reason. New Prime Minister became Christophe Dabiré, who held several ministerial posts in the 1990s.
Every month there were reports of attacks in various parts of the country in which dozens of people were often killed. Most of the suspects were carried out by jihadists, ie Islamist armed groups, and the victims were predominantly civilians. The widespread violence caused concern that ethnic-based violence would increase in the country.
In March, it was reported that more than 1,000 of almost 2,900 schools were forced to close in three of the most violent regions. Other schools remained open but were empty because the parents kept the children at home for fear of attacks. Schools and teachers have become a common target for Islamists who oppose what is known as Western education. At the end of April, the first attack against a Christian church was also carried out since 2015 when a Protestant church was attacked. The deed was followed a few weeks later by another, this time against a Catholic church. Mosques were also subjected to deadly attacks. In September, it was reported that a total of more than 100 medical facilities were attacked and that the wave of violence drove about 300,000 people into flight. Already in February, over one million people were estimated to be in need of relief.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER.ORG: Click to see the meanings of 3-letter acronym and abbreviation of BFA in general and in geography as Burkina Faso in particular.
On Christmas Eve, two days of national grief were announced after seven soldiers and 35 civilians, most of them women, were killed in a military posting in the northern part of the country. At the same time, more than 80 rebels must have been killed. During the year, the military carried out several actions against what were said to be terrorists. However, according to the Burkina human rights organization MBDHP, government forces committed abuses in the form of extrajudicial executions. Similar accusations have previously come from the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch. In July, the state of emergency was extended to January 2020. France has become increasingly involved in the country and French special forces carried out several actions, causing dissatisfaction among parts of the population. The difficult economic situation and the government’s inability to cope with the widespread violence also led to criticism. Demonstrations in the capital Ouagadougou were conducted in September despite the government’s ban. The protesters met with tear gas.
In September a meeting was held in Ouagadougou with representatives of the 15 countries of the West African cooperation organization ECOWAS as well as the presidents of Mauritania and Chad. According to the organization’s leader, the Ivorian Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, jihadists had carried out 2,200 attacks since 2015, costing a total of 11,500 people’s lives in the region. The countries agreed to jointly invest $ 1 billion over four years to curb Islamist violence.
Among the positives that happened in the country during the year include Africa’s largest film festival, Fespaco. The festival, held every two years in Ouagadougou, turned 50 and attracted around 100,000 visitors.
At the Doha Athletics World Cup in Qatar, Fabrice Zango took Burkina Faso’s first World Championships in athletics when he took the bronze in the three-stage.
Population 2019
According to CountryAAH, the population of Burkina Faso in 2019 was 20,321,267, ranking number 59 in the world. The population growth rate was 2.890% yearly, and the population density was 74.2740 people per km2.
