Upper Volta: Random Facts and Trivia

Some random facts and trivia for the country of the world Upper Volta, agriculture economy, problems with literacy and drought, biography of Yameogo.

UPPER VOLTA

NOTES

Some 98% of the population is involved with agriculture and livestock, 97% is illiterate, and almost 100% is suffering from the effects of a severe drought.

Maurice Yameogo, the 1st President of Upper Volta (1960), was an irresponsible and incompetent ruler. He banned the opposition party, jailed its leaders, and introduced austerity programs which severely cut the wages of civil servants. Meanwhile, he had divorced his 1st wife to marry "Miss Ivory Coast 1965," and had gone off to Brazil on an expensive honeymoon. He lived extravagantly and enjoyed his luxury until 1966, when angry union leaders rallied the people to demonstrations outside the palace, demanding Yameogo's resignation and asking for a military takeover. Yameogo also asked the military to take the country off his hands, which it did, and subsequently the military fined Yameogo $200,000 and sentenced him to 5 years' hard labor for having embezzled $3 million during his Presidency. He was reprieved in 1970.

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