What you need to know about Burundi
Burundi has started reaping the dividends of a peace process. But it faces the formidable tasks of reviving a shattered economy and of forging national unity. Since 1993 Burundi seemed poised to enter a new era when, in their first democratic elections, Burundians chose their first Hutu head of state, Melchior Ndadaye, and a parliament dominated by the Hutu Front for Democracy in Burundi (Frodebu) party. But within months Ndadaye had been assassinated by Tutsi military officials setting the scene for years of Hutu-Tutsi violence in which an estimated 300,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed.
Politics: Stability appears to be within reach after years of bloody conflict. The government and the last active rebel group signed a ceasefire in May 2008, but post-election tension in 2010 renewed fears of civil war. Economy: Half the population lives below the poverty line. Coffee and tea account for most of the foreign currency earnings.
International: Relative peace after a 12-year ethnic-based civil war has been attributed partly to international mediation and support.
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
Back in June 1993, Melchior Ndadaye, leader of the Hutu-dominated Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU), won the first democratic election and became the first Hutu head of state, leading a pro-Hutu government. However, in October 1993, Tutsi soldiers assassinated Ndadaye, which started further years of violence between Hutus and Tutsis.
It is estimated that some 300,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the years following the assassination.[21]In early 1994 parliament elected another Hutu, Cyprien Ntaryamira, as president. But he was killed in April alongside the president of neighbouring Rwanda when the plane they were travelling in was shot down over Kigali. Another Hutu, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, was appointed president in October 1994. But within months, the mainly Tutsi Union for National Progress (Uprona) party withdrew from the government and parliament, sparking a new wave of ethnic violence.
It is estimated that some 300,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the years following the assassination.[21]In early 1994 parliament elected another Hutu, Cyprien Ntaryamira, as president. But he was killed in April alongside the president of neighbouring Rwanda when the plane they were travelling in was shot down over Kigali. Another Hutu, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, was appointed president in October 1994. But within months, the mainly Tutsi Union for National Progress (Uprona) party withdrew from the government and parliament, sparking a new wave of ethnic violence.
Following long-running talks, mediated by South Africa, a power-sharing government was set up in 2001 and most of the rebel groups agreed to a ceasefire. Four years later Burundians voted in the first parliamentary elections since the start of the civil war.
The main Hutu former rebel group won the vote and nominated its leader Pierre Nkurunziza as president. As today the government and the United Nations embarked on the lengthy process of disarming thousands of soldiers and former rebels, as well as forming a new national army
Geographically , Burundi is divided into 17 provinces, 117 communes, and 2,638 collines(hills). Provincial governments are structured upon these boundaries
§ Bubanza
§ Bururi
§ Cankuzo
§ Cibitoke
§ Gitega
§ Karuzi
§ Kayanza
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§ Kirundo
§ Makamba
§ Muramvya
§ Muyinga
§ Mwaro
§ Ngozi
§ Rutana
§ Ruyigi
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There is less health care in Burundi than in most other countries. Life expectancy at birth is estimated at 48.5 years. (2005) . A large proportion of the population is undernourished. There were 3 physicians per 100,000 persons in the early 2000s.[ Many Burundians have migrated to other countries as a result of the civil war. In 2006, the United States accepted approximately 10,000 Burundian refugees.
Most Burundians live in rural areas, while about six percent of the population live in urban areas. The population density of around 315 people per square kilometer (753 per sq mi) is the second highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In June 1993, Melchior Ndadaye, leader of the Hutu-dominated Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU), won the first democratic election and became the first Hutu head of state, leading a pro-Hutu government. However, in October 1993, Tutsi soldiers assassinated Ndadaye, which started further years of violence between Hutus and Tutsis. It is estimated that some 300,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the years following the assassination.[21].
Melchior Ndadaye (March 28, 1953 – October 21, 1993) was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election. Though he moved to attempt to smooth the country's bitter ethnic divide, his reforms antagonised soldiers in the Tutsi-dominated army, and he was assassinated amidst a failed military coup in October 1993, after only three months in office. His assassination sparked an array of brutal tit-for-tat massacres between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups, and ultimately sparked the decade-long Burundi Civil War.
Ndadaye's government was to be short-lived, however, as he was overthrown and killed in a military coup on October 21. The exact events have never been clarified, but it appears that Ndadaye, Pontien Karibwami, the president of the National Assembly and Gilles Bimazubute, the vice-president of the National Assembly, were taken to an army barracks before dawn by supposedly loyal soldiers under the guise that there had been a mutiny by sections of the army and that they needed protection. The three, along with a number of other officials and cabinet members, were then executed, with Ndadaye bayonetted to death.
A United Nations investigation into Ndadaye's murder, the result of which was released in 1996, accused the army command of being responsible for the assassination and of being complicit in the resulting massacres by Tutsi troops. Between 1993 and 2003, many rounds of peace talks, overseen by regional leaders inTanzania, South Africa, and Uganda, gradually established power-sharing agreements to satisfy the majority of the contending groups. African Union (AU) peacekeepers were deployed to help oversee the installation of a transitional government. In June 2004, the UN stepped in and took over peacekeeping responsibilities as a signal of growing international support for the already markedly advanced peace process in Burundi.
· Full name: Republic of Burundi
· Population: 8.6 million (UN, 2011)
· Capital: Bujumbura
· Area: 27,816 sq km (10,740 sq miles)
· Major languages: Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili
· Major religions: Christianity, indigenous beliefs
· Life expectancy: 50 years (men), 53 years (women) (UN)
· Monetary unit: 1 Burundi franc = 100 centimes
· Main exports: coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides
· GNI per capita: US $170 (World Bank, 2010)
