1980 Upper Voltan coup d'état up against the President, which caused the 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état, in which Lieutenant Colonel Sangoulé Lamizana took power. This marked the beginning of a long era of military rule in Upper Volta and later Burkina Faso. Lamizana would go on to rule the country as a military dictator until the Upper Voltan presidential election in 1978, when he was elected as the leader of a civilian regime. During the 1970s, the Lamizana government faced many problems, among them continued opposition from the trade unions, the rise of new political opposition groups, a strong Sahel drought, increasing desertification, and
Lake Volta Lake Volta Lake Volta is the largest reservoir, man-made lake, in terms of surface area contained behind the Akosombo Dam. It is completely within the country of Ghana and has a surface area of . Stretching from Akosombo in the south to the northern part of the country, it is one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the world. Lake Volta lies along the Greenwich meridian, and just six degrees of latitude north of the Equator. The lake's northernmost point is close to the town of Yapei, and its southernmost extreme is at the Akosombo Dam, downstream from Yapei. Akosombo