Foreign Relations of Burkina Faso

Video Transcript

“[A] long time ago in the mid-seventies starting with the drought of 1974 there was a border issue between Burkina Faso and Mali. It escalated at the end of the famine in ’76. It was a very dormant war that never escalated, and it went dormant until 1985 when the conflict erupted. And in 1985 there was an open conflict, war between Burkina Faso and Mali that lasted from December 24 to January 9th. It was a short war, it was called the War of the Poors. The reason of the war was dispute over the land called l’Agacher. La Bande [d’Agacher], the Agacher [strip] that border Burkina Faso and Mali up north toward the border between, the region called… The name of the region is La Bande [d’Agacher] up north in the border between Burkina Faso and Mali. A resolution was found at the International Court in The [Hague]. And this is how the dispute [was resolved], it was cut in two. Burkina Faso got 52%, Mali got 48%.”

In this video, a Burkina Faso expert explains the country's foreign relations with Mali.