Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo

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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Article promoted by Parsecboy (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 18:30, 2 February 2018 (UTC) « Return to A-Class review list[reply]

Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo[edit]

Nominator(s): Indy beetle (talk)

Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

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Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo is a Burkinabé (that is, from Burkina Faso) physician who served as a doctor in the army and briefly led his country (when it was known as Upper Volta) as President from November 1982 until May 1983. His term was bookmarked by military coups, and during his reign he also held the ministerial portfolio for Defence and Veterans Affairs. There's not a ton of sources out there (as one would expect for a man from a small West African country), but I've pulled together an article that just passed a GA nomination. I've since added more information from a few other sources I discovered and I believe this article is ready for A-class review. Perhaps this can make a small dent in our systemic bias problem. -Indy beetle (talk) 22:21, 6 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Dudley[edit]

  • "affectionately referred to by his initials JBO" "affectionately" sounds POV.
    • Changed "affectionately" to "also".
  • "In the 2010s he acted as a mediator" As we are still in the 2010s I think "he has acted" would be better.
    • I think in the spirit of Wikipedia having an objective point of view not being contingent off of time, I think its best to identify the decade he mediated in. Especially considering his mediation is spread from 2014, 2015, and 2017 I think saying "2010s" is all encapsulating.
  • "In May 1983 Ouédraogo's presidential term was given a brief extension." I am not clear what this means. You have not said that his term was time limited.
    • Indeed, this is ambiguous, especially considering that the CSP regime as a whole was supposed to last 2 years (info added) and there was no talk of formal terms when it took power, far as I know. Removed pending more useful information.
  • "a loan of 250 million West African CFA francs" It would be helpful to give some indication how large this is - it seems a lot for founding one clinic.
    • I'm not sure myself how large it is when factoring the 1992 exchange rate between it and say, the US Dollar or British Pound. Also, the source makes no comment on the loan being unusually large, so it wouldn't really be faithful of me to emphasize its size.
  • This looks good but I would like to see a quotation from an associate or commentator describing of his appearance, character, faults and achievements, if available. Dudley Miles (talk) 09:10, 10 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    • @Dudley Miles: I was about to say that was unactionable but I've found a comment from the Minister of Justice that I think does the trick. -Indy beetle (talk) 02:38, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • That is helpful but I am doubtful about the position of the quote. "master of Ouagadougou" appears to mean head of state, but the quote comes immediately before his appointment as chief medical officer. Maybe split the next paragraph and insert the quote after " "against my will". Dudley Miles (talk) 12:32, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Dudley Miles: I've moved the quote, though I split the paragraph a bit earlier because I did not want to disjoin the comments about Sankara. -Indy beetle (talk) 20:55, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Factotem[edit]

  • Lead, Ouédraogo did not command much popular support and governed the country in a state of instability I assume you mean that the country was in a state of instability, but this sentence actually says that Ouédraogo was in a state of instability.
  • Revised as "More ideologically moderate than most of his comrades, Ouédraogo did not command much popular support and governed the country amid an unstable political climate."
  • Infobox. Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani is mentioned only in the infobox. Whilst I don't think it's absolutely necessary to mention him in the main body, at the very minimum his appearance in the infobox needs a source.
  • Sourced in the body.
  • Section "Early life". Is there a reason why "primaire catholique" is not capitalised?
  • Capitalised.
  • Section "Military career and presidency", 1st para. Pretty sure that it should be "...military coup which ousted..."
  • Done.
  • Same section. I'm not sure about that quote. It seems to just be dropped there without any context. This is not a huge issue, and not something I would oppose on, but maybe it could be integrated a little better? Or perhaps moved to a quotebox, as you do later in the article?
  • Moved to quotebox.
  • Same section, 2nd para. ...lacked political experience and popular support and was quickly regarded... I'm not sure about this, but I think maybe you need a comma after support to separate the list from the clause.
  • Done.
  • Same section, 3rd para. ...corruption and fraud in the business community had in-part facilitated.... The hyphenated in-part looks wrong to me. Would this be better rendered as a parenthetical clause without the hyphen, i.e. "...community had, in part, facilitated..."?
  • Done.
  • Same section, 4th para. It's not clear to me why the arrival of a Libyan transport would cause anxiety, or what the relevance of the visits to Togo, Ghana and Niger is.
  • Revised as "Sankara concluded his tour with a visit to Libya and returned to the country. A Libyan transport aircraft landed at Ouagadougou Airport shortly after his arrival, generating rumours of a plot to install a pro-Libya regime in Upper Volta." Concerning the visits to the neighboring states, it was the only travel abroad Ouédraogo undertook while president and, as one of the few things of his presidency covered by the available media, I thought it relevant for inclusion.
  • Section "Dispute with Sankara and deposition". Deposition also has a common meaning of giving sworn evidence. I wonder if "overthrow" might be better?
  • Done.
  • Same section, 1st para. ...he did not have reliable connections with the conservative factions he supposedly represented (while his left-wing opponents were well organised) .... This does not flow too well. What do you think of "...his left-wing opponents were well organised while he did not have reliable connections with the conservative factions he supposedly represented..." instead?
  • Done.
  • Same section and para. Several days later he released Sankara to his home where he remained under guard. I realise common sense tells us what all the he's and his's actually refer to, but maybe this sentence might be better written as "Several days later he released Sankara, who was confined under guard to house arrest."
  • Done.
  • Same section, 2nd para. Ouédraogo, on the advice of his chief of staff, met with Sankara at 19:00 at his residence.... Whose residence?
  • Revised as "Meanwhile, Ouédraogo consulted his chief of staff, who advised him to negotiate an end to his political conflict with Sankara. Ouédraogo received Sankara at 19:00 at his residence and offered to resign".
  • Same section and para. The former offered to resign.... "Former" references the previous sentence, which discusses three individuals: Ouédraogo; his chief of staff; and Sankara; so it's not absolutely clear who "former" actually referes to.
  • ^
  • Section "Later life". I'm not sure, but do you really need to repeat "Excellence in Business"? Would "...awarded a gold medal by the Geneva-based Foundation for Excellence in Business Practice" work?
  • Done.
  • References. Quite a few of the references lack author information. I'm not sure where we stand on that in terms of grounds for failing the ACR.
  • Nothing would indicate to me that its disqualifying. After all, those are sources where no author name was given, and they are all legitimate publications. Some of the West Africa articles say "From our correspondent in Ouagadougou..." but that's it. I could fill in the author parameter with a comment attributing the works to staff writers and correspondents (see the press release example at Wikipedia:Citation templates) but overall that doesn't change the physical appearance of the article.
  • Images. Was going to comment on this, but see a request has been added to the talk page.

Nice work. I need advice on lack of author information, and a source for Lingani is necessary, but other than those, my comments are all nitpicky prose issues and no reason to oppose. Factotem (talk) 13:10, 25 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

G'day, per the request on my talk page, I had a look at the issue relating to lack of author information for some sources. I don't think it is a major issue in cases where there isn't a clearly defined author. I have sometimes used "Staff" in this case, but I have seen many cases at A-class and FAC where not including an author in these cases has been acceptable. Just my opinion, though. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 09:43, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Good enough for me. Thank you. Factotem (talk) 09:54, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Happy to support now, but one more thing to fix. Cite #6 references "Africa News" which, I believe, should be "Afrique nouvelle". Factotem (talk) 09:57, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

No that citation is correct, it refers to the Durham-based publication. -Indy beetle (talk) 12:47, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
My mistake. Sorry. But then, is there a reason why you cite, for example, cite #11 to the article title (article Coup Plot Discovered by publication Africa Research Bulletin), but this cite#6 to the publication (article Upper Volta Junta Pledges Civilian Rule In Two Years by publication Africa news)? Just a trivial issue of consistency and no biggie. Factotem (talk) 13:01, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Factotem: Fixed, all done by article title now. I had originally cited all of them by journal name, but changed the others after I realized I was citing two different West Africa and Africa Research Bulletin articles and that would have been confusing. -Indy beetle (talk) 20:56, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by AustralianRupert[edit]

Support: I reviewed this for GA and having reviewed the changes since then, I feel it is up to scratch for A-class. I have a few minor suggestions, though: AustralianRupert (talk) 10:43, 27 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

  • in the References, "State and societies in Burkina: essay on African politics" --> "State and Societies in Burkina: Essay on African Politics" (title case caps)
  • in the References, " The Mossi of Burkina Faso: chiefs, politicians and soldiers" --> " The Mossi of Burkina Faso: Chiefs, Politicians and Soldiers" (same as above)
  • if you are looking to take this to FAC, I think the lead might need expansion to maybe two paragraphs
  • suggest linking "major" as a rank
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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