Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"In contrast, Burkina Faso is representative of West Africa’s much drier interior—impoverished and landlocked, but containing undeveloped reserves of gold and a commercial economy that relies on exporting cotton. Importantly, with Muslims constituting 59 percent of Burkina Faso’s 18.6 million inhabitants, this country—together with Mali (93 percent), Niger (99 percent), and transitional Chad (58 percent)—lies firmly within the Islamic orbit of northern West Africa." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 306]
Many coups were accomplished without violence. Some countries even established a tradition of peaceful coups. . . . In Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), where political activity was confined to such a small elite that incoming ministers tended to be related to those who had just been thrown out, politicians took pride in the fact that no one had ever been killed for political reasons. There was considerable disquiet, therefore, when, during the country’s fourth coup in 1982, rival army factions clashed; shooting had never occurred before." [The Fate of Africa, p. 218]