Pô is a city in southern

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

. It is the capital of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Nahouri Nahouri is one of the 45 provinces of Burkina Faso, located in the Centre-Sud administrative region. In 2019 the population was 195,608. Its capital is Pô. Education In 2011 the province had 109 primary schools and 20 secondary schools. Health ...

. The main ethnic group (making about 60% of the inhabitants) is the Kasséna, a group close to the Gurunsi. It is said to have been founded in around 1500 and is home to an

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

base, including the Académie militaire Georges Namoano. In 1983, an army unit under

Blaise Compaoré Blaise Compaoré (born 3 February 1951)''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 76–77.

led a rebellion which resulted in

Thomas Sankara Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (; 21 December 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a Burkinabé military officer, Marxist–Leninist revolutionary, and Pan-Africanist, who served as President of Burkina Faso from his coup in 1983 to his deposition a ...

's release from prison and ascension to the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

. On October 31, 2014 Compaoré announced he had left the presidency and that there was a "

power vacuum In political science and political history, the term power vacuum, also known as a power void, is an analogy between a physical vacuum to the political condition "when someone in a place of power, has lost control of something and no one has repla ...

"; he also called for a "free and transparent" election within 90 days.

Yacouba Isaac Zida Yacouba Isaac Zida (born 16 November 1965) is a Burkina Faso, Burkinabé Military of Burkina Faso, military officer who briefly served as Burkina Faso's acting head of state in November 2014. He took power in the aftermath of the 2014 Burkinabé u ...

then took over the reins as head of state in an interim capacity. It was reported that a heavily armed convoy believed to be carrying Compaoré was traveling towards the southern town of Pô. However, it diverted before reaching the town and he then fled to Ivory Coast with the support of President Alassane Ouattara. " Pô Department", centered on Po, is one of five departments within the province of

in the

Centre-Sud Region Centre-Sud is one of Burkina Faso's 13 administrative regions. The population of Centre-Sud was 638,379 in 2006 and was estimated at 722,631 in 2011. The region's capital is Manga. Three provinces – Bazèga, Nahouri, and Zoundwéogo – make ...

. It is located on the border with

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. Pô National Park lies near the town.

Climate

Pô has an increasingly hot dry season and a warm, wet season. The warmest month is April, with an average high of 38 C (100.4 F), and an average low of 26 C (78.8 F). The coolest month, and wettest month is August, with a high of 30 C (86 F), a low of 22 C (71.6 F) and rainfall of 241 mm. Humidity is high in the wet season.

External links

"Le Pays Kasséna"
Burkina Faso Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism's web site for this area

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Po Populated places in the Centre-Sud Region