WASHINGTON -- The Republic of Upper Volta will change its name to Bourkina Fasso on Saturday, embassy officials said Wednesday.
The official announcement is expected to be made on Aug. 4, the first anniversary of the coup by a group of military officers.
It is part of a process of 'Africanization,' meant to separate the country from its colonial past.
The new name, according to the Upper Volta embassy, means, 'The Country of Upright Men' and is made up of words from two of the approximately 50 languages used in the country.
Bourkina comes from the Morree language and Fasso comes from another widely used language, Dioula.
The nation also is expected to change its flag and national anthem.
Upper Volta, with about 6,600,000 people belonging to about 50 tribes, is a desert nation that gained its independence from France in 1960. It has had a tumultous history as a republic, with a series of coups ousting successive civilian demoocratic governments.
