Burkina Faso
Capital: Ouagadougou
Type of Government: Parliamentary Republic Date of Independence: 5 August 1960 (from France) National Holiday: Republic Day, 11 December (1958); note - commemorates the day that Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French Community Chief of State: President Roch Marc Kabore Head of Government: Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba Executive Branch: chief of state: President Roch Marc KABORE (since 29 December 2015) Head of government: Prime Minister Paul Kaba THIEBA (since 6 January 2016) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister elections/appointments: president elected by absolute majority popular vote in two rounds, if needed, for a 5-year term (eligible for a second); election last held on 29 November 2015 (next scheduled for November 2020); prime minister appointed by the president with consent of the National Assembly Legislative Branch: unicameral National Assembly (127 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote to serve 5-year terms) Judicial Branch: highest court(s): Supreme Court of Appeals or Cour de Cassation (consists of NA judges); Constitutional Council or Conseil Constitutionnel (consists of the council president and 3 judges) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court judge appointments mostly controlled by the president of Burkina Faso; judge tenure NA; Constitutional Council judges appointed by the president of Burkina Faso upon the proposal of the minister of justice and the president of the National Assembly; judges appointed for 9-year terms with one-third of membership renewed every 3 years subordinate courts: Appeals Court; High Court; first instance tribunals; district courts; specialized courts relating to issues of labor, children, and juveniles; village (customary) courts Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal Ambassador to US: (vacant) Embassy in US: 2340 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 Consulates: none US Ambassador: Ambassador Tulinabo Salama Mushingi US Embassy: Rue 15.873, Avenue Sembene Ousmane, Ouaga 2000, Secteur 15 UN Representative: Yemdaogo Eric Tiare Flag Description: two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and green with a yellow five-pointed star in the center; red recalls the country's struggle for independence, green is for hope and abundance, and yellow represents the country's mineral wealth
National Anthem: "Le Ditanye" (Anthem of Victory) Click here to listen National Symbols: white stallion; national colors: red, yellow, green International Disputes: adding to illicit cross-border activities, Burkina Faso has issues concerning unresolved boundary alignments with its neighbors; demarcation is currently underway with Mali; the dispute with Niger was referred to the ICJ in 2010, and a dispute over several villages with Benin persists; Benin retains a border dispute with Burkina Faso around the town of Koualou Refugees: 34,191 (Mali) Internally Displaced Persons: N/A Stateless Persons: N/A Human Trafficking: Burkina Faso is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; Burkinabe children are forced to work as farm hands, gold panners and washers, street vendors, domestic servants, and beggars or in the commercial sex trade, with some transported to nearby countries; to a lesser extent, Burkinabe women are recruited for legitimate jobs in the Middle East or Europe and subsequently forced into prostitution; women from other West African countries are also lured to Burkina Faso for work and subjected to forced prostitution, forced labor in restaurants, or domestic servitude Illicit Drug Use: N/A |
Roch Marc Kabore- President
Paul Kaba Thieba- Prime Minister
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