BURKINA FASO: Muammar Gaddafi's generosity keeps the former Libyan leader's support high

Record ID: 773417

  • Title: BURKINA FASO: Muammar Gaddafi's generosity keeps the former Libyan leader's support high
  • Date: 10th September 2011
  • Summary: OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO (SEPTEMBER 8, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OUAGADOUGOU 2000, BIG ROAD, WITH MONUMENT VARIOUS OF ROAD JUNCTION, SPONSORED WITH LIBYAN MONEY VARIOUS OF BURKINA COMMERCIAL BANK, BUILT WITH LIBYAN MONEY STREET SCENES, PEOPLE ON BICYCLES OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO (SEPTEMBER 9, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BURKINA FASO CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVE, MAMADOU NAMA, IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (French) BURKINA FASO CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVE, MAMADOU NAMA SAYING: "Burkina already had money; it was not waiting for Libyan money to know what it is like to have money, absolutely not. He (Gaddafi) came to give money mostly to raise his profile." OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO (SEPTEMBER 8, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OIL LIBYA PETROL STATION MORE OF STREET SCENES, PEOPLE ON BICYCLES, MOTORBIKES VARIOUS OF MEDICAL CLINIC EL FATEH-SUKA, BUILT BY GADDAFI'S WIFE OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO (SEPTEMBER 9, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) BURKINA FASO CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVE, MAMADOU NAMA SAYING: "We are not attached to a person, but to a people. What happened to the Libyan people was sufficiently serious for it to have been a catastrophe for Libya." OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO (SEPTEMBER 8, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MOSQUE, MINARETS, ROOF VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PRAYING INSIDE MOSQUE (SOUNDBITE) (French) IMAM EL HADJ BOUBACAR KARABINA, SAYING: "In Burkina there are more than 1,800 people who are paid by Libya, particularly those who did Arabic Studies. There are more than 2,000 people who had got their high school diploma, their Baccalaureat or Diploma, who had just graduated and they did not have work, they were unemployed. Gaddafi, in 1998, hired all of them." STREET SCENE WITH BICYCLES, MOTORBIKES (SOUNDBITE) (French) OUMAR GNAGAO, ARTISAN, SAYING: "Everything Gaddafi did in Africa was not just a gift. He created businesses that gave jobs to poor Africans. If we cannot go to Europe and someone helps (us) with his own money, finds jobs for people, we are not against that person." MEN WASHING BEFORE PRAYER (SOUNDBITE) (French) SALIF BOUNCOUNGOU, ARTISAN, SAYING: "Gaddafi helped Africa a lot, so it cannot be that today, when he's in this crisis, we forget him." VARIOUS OF HOTEL LIBYA WITH COMMERCIAL CENTRE OUAGA 2000
  • Embargoed: 25th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Burkina Faso, Burkina Faso
  • Country: Burkina Faso
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAAC69JGBV1CA3PB1AOELQDZY9W
  • Story Text: As the world waits on news of Muammar Gaddafi, there is an awkward atmosphere hovering over the streets of Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou.
    There are shrines to Gaddafi's past acts of generosity everywhere, in the form of hotels, modern neighbourhoods, roads and banks. His presence is pervasive, even if he is not here physically.
    Burkina Faso has been a stronghold of Gaddafi support for years, but there is a feeling that the country's President Blaise Compaore is distancing himself from the ousted Libyan leader, insisting on Tuesday (September 6) that he had not had a request for asylum and Gaddafi was not expected.
    In some circles within the country's capital Ouagadougou, there is also a sudden eagerness to underplay the importance of Gaddafi and particularly his 'gifts'.
    "Burkina already had money; it was not waiting for Libyan money to know what it is like to have money, absolutely not. He (Gaddafi) came to give money mostly to raise his profile," Burkina Faso's Civil Society representative Mamadou Nama told Reuters.
    However, Gaddafi's money does count for a lot here, his medical centres, the schools and jobs he provided still matter to Burkinabes. About 90% of Burkina Faso's nearly 17 million population rely on subsistence farming.
    Nearly 80% of Burkinabes are unemployed. Industry is minimal and, though there has been a rise in gold mining activities in recent years, Burkina remains one of the world's poorest countries.
    "We are not attached to a person, but to a people. What happened to the Libyan people was sufficiently serious for it to have been a catastrophe for Libya," insisted Nama.
    There is growing international pressure on sympathetic African countries to close their doors to Gaddafi. Burkina Faso already plays asylum host to the likes of former Guinean leader Dadis Camara and in the mosques and on the streets of Ouagadougou, he would still be warmly received.
    "In Burkina there are more than 1,800 people who are paid by Libya, particularly those who did Arabic Studies. There are more than 2,000 people who had got their high school diploma, their Baccalaureat or Diploma, who had just graduated and they did not have work, they were unemployed. Gaddafi, in 1998, hired all of them," Imam El Hadj Boubacar Karabina told Reuters.
    Gaddafi, despite opinion elsewhere, remains the man who came to Burkinabes in their hour of need.
    "Everything Gaddafi did in Africa was not just a gift. He created businesses that gave jobs to poor Africans. If we cannot go to Europe and someone helps (us) with his own money, finds jobs for people, we are not against that person," said trader, Oumar Gnagao.
    "Gaddafi helped Africa a lot, so it cannot be that today, when he's in this crisis, we forget him," added Salif Bouncoungou, another trader.
    Whatever the gifts lavished on Burkina before, hosting Gaddafi may cost the country even more, as the millions of dollars of international aid, much of which comes from Europe and the United States, would almost certainly be threatened.
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