Ouagadougou - The African Mirror

Jun

21

2024

Burkina Faso junta leader denies reports of army mutiny

NEWS

BURKINA Faso's military leader Ibrahim Traore appeared on national TV to deny reports of mutiny within the army following an attack by al Qaeda-linked insurgents that killed over 100 soldiers near the border with Niger. Commenting for the first time since the assault, Traore did not address a claim of responsibility by an al Qaeda-linked group but said Burkina Faso had launched an operation after the attack and sent reinforcement troops. Some media outlets and activists had been speculating about whether Traore was safe after gunfire was heard close to the presidency, and a rocket shell fell near state-run RTB…

Feb

23

2024

By WARREN SARÉ and GIULIA TRINGALI

‘Nobody sees me’: Photographing displacement in Burkina Faso’s capital

MULTIMEDIA

More than 30,000 Burkinabé have made their way down to the capital city, Ouagadougou, over the past few years, escaping a jihadist conflict that has enveloped large parts of the country and displaced more than two million people overall. Yet despite the city’s safety and employment opportunities, the displaced people have been struggling with high rents and a lack of assistance and recognition from humanitarian organisations and different governments. Late last year, Burkinabé photographer Warren Saré, working alongside Italian reporter Giulia Tringali, spent time documenting the lives of the city’s displaced people, who live in informal settlements, with host families,…

Dec

22

2023

By The African Mirror

Burkina Faso detains four French civil servants, says diplomatic source

NEWS

FOUR French IT workers with diplomatic passports and visas have been arrested in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, a French diplomatic source said, denying a media report that they were intelligence agents. Worsening relations between the junta in Burkina Faso and former coloniser France have recently led to expulsion orders for diplomatic officials, including the French ambassador, and to the suspension of some French media. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said the four civil servants came to the West African country to carry out IT maintenance for the French embassy but were detained on December 1 and transferred to Ouagadougou prison…

Oct

21

2023

By The African Mirror

Dengue fever kills hundreds in Burkina Faso as cases spike

HEALTH

BURKINA Faso's health ministry has declared a dengue fever epidemic amid the deadliest outbreak in years in which more than 200 people have died and new cases are rising sharply. There have been 50,478 suspected cases and 214 deaths of the mosquito-borne illness this year, the ministry said in a statement, mostly in the urban centres of the capital Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso. About 20% of the cases and deaths were recorded last week alone, it said. Dengue kills an estimated 20,000 people worldwide each year. Rates of the disease have risen eight-fold since 2000, driven largely by climate change,…

Oct

10

2023

By BONFACE ORUCHO & MASBÉ NDENGAR, BIRD STORY AGENCY

This Burkinabe researcher wants his groundbreaking work to wipe out malaria, altogether

HEALTH

ON a busy morning in the Nagrin district of Ouagadougou. Balkissa Wangrawa, a Burkinabe community-based health volunteer, keenly scouts through residential blocks for possible mosquito breeding areas. He identifies a pool of stagnant shower water from an adjacent bathing area that allows water to flow into an open field. As he walks by, he gets a definite whiff of the unpleasant stench from stagnant wastewater and then he hears the buzzing of a swarm of mosquitoes. Wangrawa is one of some 15,000 healthcare workers and volunteers implementing Burkina Faso's latest government-led seasonal malaria prevention campaign (CPS+). The campaign involves the…

Oct

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Burkina junta leader: Security first before promised elections

NEWS

THE leader of Burkina Faso's military junta said promised elections would only be held once the security situation permits, as hundreds of his supporters rallied in the capital on the first anniversary of the coup. Supporters gathered at the Place de la Nation in Ouagadougou waving Burkinabe flags. Some held signs with pictures of the young interim president, Captain Ibrahim Traore. Traore grabbed power on September 30 last year, ousting the leader of another coup who had overthrown president Roch Kabore eight months earlier amid a worsening security crisis fuelled by armed groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.…

Mar

23

2023

By The African Mirror

Activists walk from Bamako to Ouagadougou to promote states’ federation

NEWS

A small group of activists have been walking from Mali's capital Bamako to Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou to express their support for a federation between the two West African states. The group are due to arrive in Ouagadougou on Tuesday where they will end their march at the Thomas Sankara memorial, a tribute to the former president and noted pan-Africanist. The prime ministers of Mali and Burkina Faso said last month they would examine the idea of creating a federation. It is not clear exactly what that would entail. The two countries share a long border and face similar challenges.…

Mar

03

2023

By The African Mirror

Burkina’s film festival in full swing despite fighting on its doorstep

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

IN Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, soldiers give directions to movie-goers and journalists attending the continent's premier film festival that is going ahead this year despite the violent insurgency gripping many of its regions. Since the biannual Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) was last held in 2021 the West African country has had to deal with the political fallout from two coups within eight months and spiralling violence driven by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. The festival's delegate-general, Alex Moussa Sawadogo, said Burkina Faso had been dealing with the insecurity for several years, but it…

Jan

21

2023

By The African Mirror

Hundreds join anti-France protest in Burkina Faso capital

NEWS

THIAM NDIAGA HUNDREDS demonstrated against France in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, the latest expression of growing anti-French sentiment in the insurgent-hit West African country. Hundreds gathered in central Ouagadougou on Friday, chanting anti-France slogans and wielding placards calling on the French army to "get out". Some set fire to French flags or used them to collect rubbish. "We want... to show France that we no longer need her," said protester Adama Sawadogo. Relations between Burkina Faso and its former colonizer have soured following two military coups last year spurred partly by authorities' failure to protect civilians from jihadist activity in…

Oct

17

2022

By The African Mirror

Burkina Faso names coup leader Traore as transitional president

NEWS

BURKINA FASO'S military officials, political parties and civil society leaders officially designated army captain Ibrahim Traore as the country's transitional president, two weeks after he seized power in Burkina Faso's second coup this year. About 300 delegates are meeting over two days in the capital, Ouagadougou, to outline plans to return the West African country to constitutional rule. Burkina Faso is struggling with a violent insurgency waged by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that began in neighbouring Mali in 2012 and has spread to other countries south of the Sahara Desert. The violence has killed thousands, displaced…