Blaise Compaore

• October 25, 2021

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Anta Guissé has spent a large part of her 20-year career defending people accused of war crimes in countries like Rwanda, Cambodia and the Central African Republic before United Nations-backed international tribunals and the International Criminal Court. Now Guissé, a lawyer based in Paris, has switched to the prosecution in …

Africa, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The Sole Woman Running for President of Burkina Faso Says: ‘I Will Win’

Clair MacDougall

• November 19, 2020

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Monique Yéli Kam’s war room is not a typical campaign headquarters for a national presidential candidate. A dusty white marquis stands next to stacked blue chairs fanning out to a balcony that leads to a room where teenage boys jostle to play a soccer video game. Upstairs in her apartment, …

Africa, Governance, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

In Burkina Faso, the Shame of Unwed Motherhood Never Leaves

Nabila El Hadad

• March 6, 2017

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — A white van roams the streets of the capital here every Wednesday morning to help young women and girls who may be homeless or destitute to take them to a health clinic on the outskirts of the city. There, a small team tries to help the clients, who may be …

Africa, Women

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The ‘Children of Nobody’: Street Kids in West Africa

Nabila El Hadad

• May 31, 2016

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Tasséré Ouedraogo, 33, appears to have spent his childhood comfortably, as reflected in the colorful tailor-made suit he wears as an adult. Yet, from age 11 to 16, he was a bakroman, or street child, in local slang. Here in Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa of around …

Africa, Human Rights, Poverty

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Attacks in West Africa Show Regional Security Reliance on France and US

Nabila El Hadad

• February 9, 2016

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — It was about 7:30 p.m. when the meeting began on the fourth floor of the Splendid Hotel here on Jan. 15 in this capital city. Fourteen people were gathered to discuss the launching of a humanitarian association, with a Burkina government minister present. Phones were put in silent mode. While …

Africa, Terrorism

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In Burkina Faso, a US Ambassador Wins Over a Slice of Francophone West Africa

Dulcie Leimbach

• January 13, 2016

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Nowhere can the positive presence of the United States in West Africa be more obvious than in the quiet, dusty nation of Burkina Faso, a mostly rural state surrounded by six other countries of ranging stability: Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger and Togo. Near the heart of a well-coordinated …

Africa, US Foreign Relations

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Women Compete in Burkina Faso’s Presidential Contest, a First for the Nation

Dulcie Leimbach

• November 29, 2015

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — This small but determined West African country voted on Sunday in its first presidential election since its last president, Blaise Compaoré, was ousted in October 2014. He had ruled the country for 27 years and was finally pushed out by a grass-roots opposition movement. Although the front-runner, Roch Marc Kaboré, …

Africa, Governance

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Burkina Faso’s People, Opposing an Autocrat, Feel Let Down by the UN

Dulcie Leimbach

• November 5, 2014

The fast-moving people-power coup that ousted a longtime leader of the landlocked West African country of Burkina Faso took not only powerful nations and international institutions by surprise — including the United Nations, France, the United States, the African Union and African regional groups — but also the Burkina protesters themselves. The demonstrations started …