On the slick beach-street bars of Burundi's capital Bujumbura, on Lake Tanganyika, 10 Rwandans pass time drinking gin and slapping the sides of their girlfriends.

Thousands of protestors marched in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso on 15 March complaining of high food prices.

Burkina Faso’s commitment to building a better life for its people shows how economic growth can overcome poverty, says U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, earning the West African nation a $480.9 million Millennium Challenge Compact to continue on the path to reform.

In a signing ceremony today at the State Department's Benjamin Franklin room, Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Ambassador John Danilovich, and Burkina Faso's Minister of Finance, Jean Baptiste Marie Pascal Compaoré, signed a $480.9 million poverty reduction grant.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Chair of the Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), will give remarks at the signing of the Millennium Challenge Compact between the United States and Burkina Faso on Monday, July 14, 2008, at 10:30 a.m., in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the Department of State.

On the eve of World Population Day, Muslim leaders agreed to promote family planning among their followers at a meeting of the country's principal Islamic organisations in the capital's main mosque.

Former Ivorian President Felix Houphoeut Boigny and Burkina Faso President Blaise Campaore were fully responsible for sponsoring the carnage in Liberia, former United States assistant secretary of state for African Affairs Herman Cohen said.