Circle the area on this map
C. Burkina Faso is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north; Niger to the east; Benin to the southeast; Togo and Ghana to the south; and Ivory Coast to the southwest. French officials believed that the hostages’ captors planned to hand them over to an al Qaeda affiliate in Mali.
D. The Sahel is a semi-arid region that stretches across Africa along the southern border of the Sahara Desert. The Sahara is largest hot desert in the world and third largest overall after Antarctica and the Arctic.
B. Most of the people speak indigenous languages like Mossi or one of the Mande languages. But the official language is French, which was introduced under France’s colonial rule of the region. French is the principal language of administrative, political and judicial institutions, public services, and the press.
A. The raid to free the hostages took place at night in the north of Burkina Faso as the kidnappers stopped on their journey towards Mali. Islamist rebels overran much of northern Mali in 2012, and were joined by several jihadist groups in imposing strict Sharia law on the area. Troops from France and several African nations later helped Mali’s government regain control, but low-level fighting continues.