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June 11, 2006
What's happening in Burkina?
Although Burkina Faso doesn't make the news a lot, that doesn't meant there is nothing happening there! Here's a brief round-up of some news from Burkina Faso in the last couple of months since I left in March:
Rains, locusts, and hunger
The rains have started in the south of the country, and good rains are predicted for the Sahel. Steve tells me there has even been at least one rain in the north, although this is too early to be the start of the season there. Last year's harvest was good, but as we enter the toughest time of year, long-term effects from the 2004-5 food crisis continue due to "depletion of household assets including high livestock mortalities and indebtedness, notably in the northern part of the country, where very high malnutrition rates continue to be reported." The UK is giving £1.5 over the next three years to the West African Sahel region to try and help tackle the vulnerabilities of the area.
Locusts fortunately seem unlikely to be a problem this year.
Elections
In the country's municipal elections, the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) won nearly two-thirds of Burkina Faso's local council seats. The elections seem to have passed off peacefully, but with a low turn-out - just under half of the country's 3.8 million registered voters cast their ballots.
Health
Meningitis. There was a serious outbreak of meningitis in March, leading to the deaths of over 600 people. President Compaore has been heading up a vaccination campaign.
FGM. Burkina Faso has been continuing its vigorous campaign against FGM. A recent study has shown clearly for the first time the evidence of increased dangers and fatalities for women in childbirth who have had FGM, and the WHO has called FGM "a form of torture", calling for a complete end to the practice.
Economy
Paul Wolfowita, the World Bank president, notes Burkina Faso as one of several successes in his call to keep Africa as a priority. Burkina achieved over 7% GDP growth in 2005, with the IMF predicting 5.6% for 2006. This was in spite of a fall in cotton prices and surge in oil prices. The rise in oil prices has also caused a hike in petrol costs at the pump in Burkina Faso, leading to recent strikes.
The World Bank and African Development Bank have both approved the writing off of Burkina's debt, with the goal of helping the government channel resources into poverty relief, and also stimulate economic growth. The Burkina government has been urged to resist Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) as a threat to West African economy, and instead examine wider regional integration through the West African Trade Regional Liberalisation scheme. The African Develoment Bank suggests abolishing visas within the region, and developing infrastructure to improve regional integration and trade. In this vein Burkina and Ghana are increasing co-operation, including a joint tomatoes venture.
Aid
Hilary Benn, the UK’s International Development Secretary has said, following a report, that allowing governments in poor countries to decide for themselves how to spend aid money has led to more schools and hospital for the poor. The reporton seven countries, including Burkina Faso, found that handing aid money to the treasuries in poor countries made the flow of overseas assistance more predictable and helped governments plan long-term anti-poverty strategies.
France is giving $387m for education, infrastructure, water, and sanitation. The World Bank has approved $47m in aid for health sector in Burkina Faso, including $12m for malaria, a massive killer in the region.
The US is giving $20m to West African states to help develop their cotton industries. West Africa, including Burkina Faso, has some of the most efficient cotton producing in the world, and is the world's 3rd largest cotton-producing region, but this has been undermined by low world prices caused in part by the $4.2 billion US cotton subsidies. The US is beginning to deal with them, but the West African nations are calling for more severe cuts in subsidies.
Gold
Companies continue to scramble for their bit of the potential gold fields in Burkina, with action by Orezone, Goldcrest, Goldrush, Semafo, Cluff, High river, and Riverstone
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso aid trade sahel health economy gold cotton fgm meningitis
Posted by Keith at June 11, 2006 10:26 AM
