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General Information Area: 274,200 sq km (105,870 sq miles). Population: 10,312,609 (1996). Population Density: 37.2 per sq km. Capital: Ouagadougou. Population: 690,000 (1993). GEOGRAPHY: Burkina Faso is situated in West Africa and bordered to the north and west by Mali, to the east by Niger, to the southeast by Benin and to the south by Togo, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The southern part of the country, less arid than the north, is wooded savannah, gradually drying out into sand and desert in the north. The Sahara desert is relentlessly moving south, however, stripping the savannah lands of trees and slowly turning the thin layer of cultivatable soil into sun-blackened rock-hard lakenite. Three great rivers, the Mouhoun, Nazinon and Nakambé (Black, Red and White Volta), water the great plains. The population does not live in the valleys along the river banks due to the diseases prevalent there. Government: Republic. Gained independence from France in 1960. Head of State: President Blaise Compaoré since 1987. Head of Government: Prime Minister Paramanga Ernest Yonli since 2000. Changed its name from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso (Land of Dignity) in 1984. Language: The official language is French. Several other languages such as Mooré, Dioula, Peul, Fulfuldé and Gourmantché are also spoken. Religion: Mainly Animist; 30 per cent are Muslim and fewer than ten per cent Christian (mostly Roman Catholic). Time: GMT. Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Two-pin plugs are standard. Communications:   Telephone IDD is available. Country code: 226. Outgoing international code: 00. Mobile telephone GSM 900 networks operated by Celtel Burkina Faso (website: www.msi-cellular.com) and Onatel in existence. Coverage available in the five main towns. Handsets can be hired (against a large deposit). Contact Onatel for further information (website: www.onatel.bf). Internet Available in some hotels and Internet cafes. There are three Internet cafes in Ouagadougou and one in Bobo Dioulassou. ISPs include FasoNet and Cenatrin. Power cuts can hamper Internet usage. Telegram There are limited facilities outside Ouagadougou. Main hotels have facilities. Post There are few post offices, but stamps can often be bought at hotels. Poste Restante facilities are available but a charge is made for letters collected. There is no local delivery, and all other mail must be addressed to a box number. Airmail to Europe takes up to two weeks. Post office hours are Mon-Fri 0730-1230 and 1500-1730. The main post office in the capital is open Mon-Sat 0830-1200 and 1500-1830. Press French-language only. The main daily newspapers are Sidwaya Quotidien, L’Observateur Paalga, Le Journal du Soir and Le Pays. BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change. BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice): MHz 17.83 15.40 11.77 7.160 Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov): MHz 15.58 11.98 6.035 0.909 From www.columbusguides.com, Copyright © 2004 Highbury Columbus Travel Publishing Terms and Conditions apply.