Burkina Faso’s president, Blaise Compaoré (that’s him above posing in between Michelle and Barack Obama at the UN a few years ago), is receiving some mixed PR right now. The Telegraph in the UK has said that even with a murky past, Compaoré may be shaping up to be West Africa’s chief negotiator in regional […]
Zambia’s victory in last year’s Africa Cup of Nations was a great story, and one that even the crustiest of cynics could get behind. A team returned to the site of the national tragedy in which their fathers’ wonderfully talented generation of footballers were killed, and won the trophy against overwhelming odds. They sung in unison as the emotional penalty shootout unfolded, and when the celebrations began, the coach picked up an injured player and carried him across the pitch to his jubilant teammates. What wasn’t to like?
Not your usual music break. The song that got the Burkinabe reggae singer Sams’K Le Jah into trouble with the authorities in his home country where Life President Blaise Compaore has been in power since 1987 after he plotted the murder of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara. More recently Compaore has had to cope with widespread […]
Photographs by Andrea Frazzetta In late February, a month before violent protests by the military in Burkina Faso prompted President Blaise Compaore to dissolve his government, an enthusiastic crowd swarmed Place des Cinéastes in the capital city, Ouagadougou, as well as a dozen other sites, as part of Fespaco 2011, the Pan-African Film and Television […]
I was a bit surprised today to read that Guinea’s military leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, has agreed not to return to Guinea (he’ll hang out in Burkina Faso with fellow dictator Blaise Compaore) and that a transitional government organize elections without him. Especially since only a few months ago it seems this guy won’t […]
