Djibo is a town in northern

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

and the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

Soum Province Soum is one of the 45 provinces of Burkina Faso, located in its Sahel Region. Its capital is Djibo. Departments Soum is divided into 9 departments: See also *Regions of Burkina Faso *Provinces of Burkina Faso *Departments of Burkina Faso Th ...

. It is situated north of

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou or Wagadugu (, , , ) is the capital city of Burkina Faso, and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic centre of the nation. It is also the List of cities in Burkina Faso#Largest cities, country's largest city, wi ...

and from the border with

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. It was founded in the 16th century and became the capital of Djilgodji, before becoming dominated by the Messina Empire in the 19th century. It is known for its animal market. The main ethnic group is the

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

. Djibo retains a traditional chieftaincy led by an

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

History

The spillway of

Djibo Dam Djibo is a town in northern Burkina Faso and the capital city of Soum Province. It is situated north of Ouagadougou and from the border with Mali. It was founded in the 16th century and became the capital of Djilgodji, before becoming dominate ...

was the scene of a potentially catastrophic accident involving a cyanide-laden truck en route to the nearby Inata gold mine on the 29 July 2011. The population of Djibo nearly tripled from about 100,000 to 270,000 between 2019 and 2022, as refugees fleed from nearby villages due to the ongoing civil war

Africanews Africanews (styled as africanews) is a 24/7 pan-African multilingual news network located in Lyon, France, previously headquartered in Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo. The news channel began broadcasting online, and via TV and satellite on ...

reported on 4 March 2022 that a humanitarian crisis was unfolding in the city as it was laid siege to by jihadist forces. On 11 May 2025, more than 100 people were reported killed in an attack by jihadists on the town.

References

External links

* Populated places in the Sahel Region Towns in Burkina Faso Massina Empire Soum Province {{Soum-geo-stub