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Religious Freedom in the Majority Islamic Countries 1998 Report

Burkina Faso Population: 10,891,000 Religion: animists 45%; Islam 43%; Catholics 10% Catholics: 1,089,924 Dioceses: Ouagadougou 285,000; Bobo Dioulasso 80,082; Diébougou 95,183; Fada N’Gourma 39,290; Kaya 45,338; Koudougou 166,529; Koupéla 169,194; Manga 40,000; Nouna Dédougou 110,315; Ouahigouya 58,993 Having obtained independence from France in 1960, the nation of Burkina Faso had to face grave famines in the 1970s and 1980s, due in large measure to the desertification of the Sahel. From the political standpoint, the country has been the theatre of a succession of coups which first established a socialist type regime and then, with the arrival of the present President Blaise Compaoré, a shift towards a democratic direction which culminated in 1991 with the promulgation of a new constitution. Agitation by Islamist networks began in the country from 1989 onwards, despite the policy of vigilance and repression adopted initially by President Sankara and continued by his successor Compaoré. Relations between the Catholic Church and Islam were peaceful until the Gulf War; since then, partly also through the influence of Libya and Iran, difficulties have arisen. The testimony given by Sister Elizabeth, a missionary in Bobo Dioulasso, in an interview with the Deutsche Tagespost (January 18 1992), gives a picture of the situation in the country. She teaches, but she does so according to the French model, for lessons in religious education do not exist; however, in her free time she speaks to anyone who wishes to listen to her. Some do so out of curiosity, others out of conviction. Bobo is a city in constant growth. It has around a million inhabitants, of whom 340,000 are Muslims and 600,000 adherents of indigenous sects, while 60,000 are Catholics. The activity of the missionaries is intensive and it is not interfered with. More complex is the situation in the North of the country, where the Islamic influence is stronger than in the South and where belonging to other religions tends to be seen as abnormal. Witness to this is borne by Emmanuel Sebgho, the son of the first catechist in Ouahigouya, a town in which out of 260,000 inhabitants 210,000 are Muslims, while 4,000 are Catholics and 3,000 Orthodox or Protestants. The missionaries present in Burkina Faso have built churches, schools and hospitals, where permitted to do so.