Known as Upper Volta until 1984, the former French colony has struggled against drought, isolation with respect to transportation for exports, and a general lack of money for development. 1: Dyula Mossi Tuaregs INTRODUCTIONīurkina Faso is one of the economically poorest countries in Africa, and one of the least known to Americans. RELIGION: Islam, traditional religions, Christianity There are broad boulevards, handsome Oovernment buildings and a palm‐bordered Army Plaza so vast that it could accommodate the entire 2,200‐man army.LANGUAGE: French, Gur Group (Niger-Congo family of languages), Bobo-Dioulasso The city has a 2,000‐seat au ditorium, superfluous traffic lights that blink in the silence of deserted intersections and the grandiose Independence Hotel, which is seldom more than a quarter full. Unlike the scrubby country side, which is dotted with rude mud villages, the capital also displays an elegance that is partly a remnant of the gran deur that Paris exported and partly a reminder of a period of postindependence extrava gance. “It's a shame there's so little promise here, because this is such an agreeable place,” said one of the several dozen French merchants in Ouagadougou, the ancient capital of the Mossi people, who still dominate the country.įamiliarly known as Ouaga (pronounced WOG‐uh), the city has 100,000 people and much of the standard French atmos phere left over from colonial days, including several first class restaurants and shops stocked with French mineral water.

Just to build, a railway from here to the deposit would cost $30‐million three‐fourths of Upper Volta's national bud get. Like the uranium in neighbor ing Niger, it is considered too far from the sea to be worth mining.

The only substantial mineral resource is a deposit of manga nese far in the northeast, where the desert begins to take over. All but per haps 15 per cent of the people live wholly without money, planting their own sorghum or cowpeas and eating no more than the bard, dry soil happens to yield. The country exports some cat tle and cotton, but the faltering economy depends heavily on aid from France. Upper Volta is so named be cause the Volta River starts here. At birth Upper Voltans have a life expectancy of 32 years, and there are 50,000 of them for every doctor. By many statistical standards this former French colony, which is twice the size of New York State, is one of the poorest countries in the world. The farmer and his five mil lion proud countrymen have lit tle else. “Here we have the right to pick our own leaders,” a tooth less old farmer explained as he sat outside his tin‐roofed but and watched pigs root in the cinnamon‐colored earth. Sangoulé Lamizana, is still President and, in his words, “guardian of the Con stitution,” but he is expected to yield even that role at the end of the new Government's four‐year term.

Yakubu Gowon announced last year that he now plans to keep control until 1976, which will be 10 years after the coup that brought him to power. The standard practice in Afri can military coups d'etat has been for the army commander to promise a quick return to civilian rule and then, once in office, to stay and stay.

Upper volta was ruled