1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état on August 5, 1970. While in prison, he attempted to take his own life unsuccessfully. The new military government set 1970 as a deadline for the return to civilian governance. Lieutenant Colonel Sangoulé Lamizana – later made Major General – would instead remain President for fourteen years, until his overthrow by Colonel Saye Zerbo on 25 November 1980. 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état The 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état was an event which took place on 3 January 1966 in the Republic of Upper Volta (today Burkina Faso), when following large-scale popular unrest the military intervened against the government, forced
Lake Volta Dam holds back both the White Volta River and the Black Volta River, which formerly converged where the middle of the reservoir now lies, to form the single Volta River. The present Volta River flows from the outlets of the dam's powerhouse and spillways to the Atlantic Ocean in southern Ghana. The main islands within the lake are Dodi, Dwarf, and Kporve. Digya National Park lies on part of the lake's western shore. The lake is formed by the Akosombo Dam, which was originally conceived by the geologist Albert Ernest Kitson in 1915, but whose construction only began in 1961