<text><span class="style42"></span><span class="style12">BURKINA FASO</span><span class="style42"></span><span class="style14"></span><span class="style42">Official name: </span><span class="style13">Burkina Faso or République de Burkina (Republic of Burkina) (previously known as Upper Volta)</span><span class="style42">Member of: </span><span class="style13">UN, OAS, ECOWAS</span><span class="style42">Area: </span><span class="style13">274400 km2 (105946 sq mi)</span><span class="style42">Population: </span><span class="style13">9780000 (1993 est)</span><span class="style42">Capital: </span><span class="style13">Ouagadougou 442000 (1985 est)</span><span class="style42">Other major city:</span><span class="style13"> Bobo-Dioulasso 229000 (1985 est)</span><span class="style42">Languages: </span><span class="style13">French (official), Mossi (48%), Fulani (10%)</span><span class="style42">Religions: </span><span class="style13">Animist (49%), Sunni Islam (40%)</span><span class="style42">GOVERNMENT</span><span class="style13">Elections by universal adult suffrage are held every four years for a 107-member Assembly and every seven years for a President. </span><span class="style42">GEOGRAPHY</span><span class="style13">The country consists of plateau about 500 m (1640 ft) high, rising to 747 m (2450 ft). </span><span class="style42">Principal rivers:</span><span class="style13"> Black Volta 1160 km (720 mi), White Volta 640 km (400 mi). </span><span class="style42">Climate: </span><span class="style13">The country is hot and dry, with adequate rainfall – 1000 mm (40 in) – only in the savannah of the south. The north is semidesert.</span><span class="style42">ECONOMY</span><span class="style13">Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest states, has been severely stricken by drought in the last two decades. Nomadic herdsmen and subsistence farmers – producing mainly sorghum, sugar cane and millet – form the bulk of the population. Cotton, manganese and zinc are exported. </span><span class="style42">Currency: </span><span class="style13">CFA franc.</span><span class="style42">HISTORY</span><span class="style13">Mossi kingdoms dominated the area for centuries before French rule began in the 1890s. In the colonial era, the country was a labor reservoir for more developed colonies to the south. Since independence in 1960, the country – which kept the name Upper Volta until 1984 – has had a turbulent political history, with a succession of military coups. Multi-party rule was restored in 1992.</span></text>