Kongoussi

Kongoussi is a city located in Bam Province in central Burkina Faso, one of the world's poorest countries. It has a population of 18,400 and it is the Provincial capital. Mooré, the language of the Mossi people, is spoken along with French, common among those who have attended school or spent time further afield.

Kongoussi has deep roots in Mossi history and social relations - certain small Mossi chiefdoms were located in this area (for example at Sabce), although not based in the town itself. Kongoussi benefits from a lakeside location, which is rare in the African Sahel. It therefore received attention from French administrators and before that from the Catholic Church. France had little real impact on the local population but did establish an outpost, promoted cotton production, and built roads. The lake, Lac du Bam is part of the upper reaches of the southward-flowing Volta system, and its presence permits year-round lakeshore cultivation in an otherwise arid climate. Townspeople have irrigated plots close to the lake shore, but the preence of standing water means the malaria risk is high. Aside from tropical fruits, green beans are produced here, usually supplying the winter market in Paris when flights form Ouagadougou permit this. There is a major road in Kongoussi that runs north to Bourzanga and beyond, and a paved road from the center of town down to the capital city of Ouagadougou, which lies 125 kilometres (78 mi) to the south. There are dirt roads and tracks connecting to outlying villages, and on an east-west axis.