Burundi - bəroonˈdē, officially Republic of Burundi, republic (1997 est. pop. 6,500,000), 10,747 sq mi (27,834 sq km), E central Africa. It borders on Rwanda in the north, on Tanzania in the east, on Lake Tanganyika in the southwest, and on Congo (Kinshasa) in the west. Bujumbura is the capital and largest city; Gitega is the only other major town. Burundi is divided into 15 provinces.

Land and People

The country falls into three main geographic regions. The narrow area in the west, which includes the Ruzizi River and Lake Tanganyika, is part of the western branch of the Great Rift Valley and includes some lowland. To the east of this region are mountains, which run north-south and reach an altitude of c.8,800 ft (2,680 m). Farther east is a region of broken plateaus with somewhat lower elevations (c.4,500–6,000 ft/1,370–1,830 m), where most of the population lives.

The inhabitants of Burundi are divided among three ethnic groups: the Hutus (about 85% of the population), who are mostly agriculturalists; the Tutsis (about 14%), who despite their relatively small numbers have historically dominated the government and the army and are predominantly cattle raisers; and the Twa ( Pygmies, about 1%), who engage in hunting and gathering. The Tutsis and Hutus traditionally had a lord-serf relationship, with Hutus tending the farmlands and cattle owned by the Tutsis. French and Kirundi (a Bantu language) are both official languages; Swahili is also spoken. About two thirds of the people are Christian, mostly Roman Catholic; the rest follow traditional beliefs. There is a university in Bujumbura.

Economy

Burundi is one of the poorest, smallest, and most densely populated nations in Africa. Its poor transportation system and its distance from the sea have tended to limit economic growth. The economy is almost entirely agricultural, with most engaged in subsistence farming, growing beans, cassava, corn, and plantains. Coffee, Burundi's chief export, accounts for 80% of its foreign exchange income. Cotton, tea, and hides are also exported. Cattle, goats, and sheep are raised.

The country's few manufactures include basic consumer goods, such as processed food, beverages, clothing, and footwear. Heavy industry is government-owned. Burundi relies on international aid for economic development and has incurred a large foreign debt. Nickel, uranium, and other minerals are mined in small quantities; platinum reserves have yet to be exploited.

Burundi's imports usually considerably exceed the value of its exports. European Union nations make up its chief trading partners. Most exports are sent by ship to Kigoma in Tanzania and then by railroad to Dar-es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean.

History

The Twa were the original inhabitants of Burundi and were followed (c.a.d. 1000), and then outnumbered, by the Hutus. Probably in the 15th cent., the Tutsis migrated into the area, gained dominance over the Hutus, and established several states. By the 19th cent., the country was ruled by the mwami (king)—a Tutsi who controlled the other Tutsis of the region in a vassal relationship. In 1890, Burundi (along with Rwanda) became part of German East Africa, but the Germans began to govern the area only in 1897. During World War I, Belgian forces occupied (1916) Burundi, and in 1919 it became part of the Belgian League of Nations mandate of Ruanda-Urundi (which in 1946 became a UN trust territory). Under the German and Belgian administrations Christianity was spread, but the traditional social structure of Burundi was not altered, and there was little economic development.

On July 1, 1962, the country became an independent kingdom ruled by the mwami of Burundi. The mid-1960s were marked by fighting between the Tutsis and Hutus and by struggles for power among the Tutsis. In 1965 a coup attempted by Hutus failed, and the Tutsis retaliated by executing most Hutu political leaders and many other Hutus. In July, 1966, Mwambutsa IV was deposed by his son, who became Ntare V. The new ruler was himself deposed by a military coup in Nov., 1966, when a republic was established.

Michel Micombero, a Tutsi, became president; a new constitution was adopted in 1970. Renewed fighting between Tutsis and Hutus in the early 1970s resulted in the death of many thousands of Hutus. In 1972 a rebellion attempting to return Ntare V to power was crushed by the government; Ntare was executed and the Hutus were further repressed. Many priests and missionaries suspected of sympathizing with the Hutu population were expelled in 1985.

Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi who became Burundi's head of state after a coup in 1987, introduced reforms designed to lessen ethnic divisions. Buyoya appointed a majority of Hutus to the cabinet, including the prime minister, and encouraged enlistment of Hutus in the military. Many Hutus fled Burundi after massacres in 1988 and settled in Tanzania. By mid-1989, however, most of them had returned.

A new constitution adopted in 1992 provided for a multiparty political system; in the 1993 elections, Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, defeated Buyoya to win the nation's first free presidential election. Soon afterward he was overthrown and killed in a coup attempt by Tutsi soldiers. Burundi was convulsed by ethnic violence in which thousands of Hutus and Tutsis died, and many fled the country. The coup collapsed, but civilian authority was restored slowly, and sporadic violence continued. In Apr., 1994, Cyprien Ntaryamira, a Hutu who had been chosen as president by parliament, was killed with the president of Rwanda when their plane crashed, possibly having been shot down. He was succeeded by Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, an ethnic Hutu, while a new power-sharing arrangement provided for a Tutsi prime minister.

Ntibantunganya, however, was unable to exercise control over the army. Fighting between Hutu militants, who had taken up arms after the 1993 coup and won control of much of NW Burundi, and Tutsi soldiers persisted, along with a high rate of civilian casualties and the continued flight of Hutus from the country. In July, 1996, the army overthrew the government, and Pierre Buyoya was once again installed as president. Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania applied economic sanctions against the country in the wake of the coup but lifted them in 1999 as talks between the warring factions progressed. In Dec., 1999, Nelson Mandela was appointed by a group of African nations to act as a mediator in the conflict. An accord was reached in 2000, but some aspects of the agreement were left incomplete. In addition, two Hutu rebel groups refused to sign the accord, and young army officers unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Buyoya twice in 2001.

In July, 2001, the Arusha accords, a Tutsi-Hutu power-sharing agreement, were finalized. Under them, Buyoya remained president, with a Hutu vice president (Domitien Ndayizeye), for 18 months; the new government was installed in Nov., 2001. Fighting with the Hutu rebel groups remained unaffected by both the accord and a Dec., 2002, cease-fire agreement with one of the rebel groups.

Ndayizeye succeeded Buyoya as transitional president in Apr., 2003, also for an 18-month term, at the end of which elections are to be held. Alphonse Kadege, a Tutsi, became vice president. A peace accord with the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), the main rebel group, was finalized in Nov., 2003, and FDD representatives joined the government the next month. The smaller Forces for National Liberation (FNL) meanwhile continued attacks on the army. In Jan., 2004, the FNL participated in talks with the government for the first time, but no progress was made.

Bibliography

See G. C. McDonald et al., Area Handbook for Burundi (1969); R. Lemarchand, Rwanda and Burundi (1970); W. Weinstein, Historical Dictionary of Burundi (1976); M. T. Wolbers, Burundi (1989).

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