Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a
landlocked country in
East Africa
East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
. It is located in the
Great Rift Valley at the junction between the
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...
region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million people. It is bordered by
Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
to the north,
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
to the east and southeast, and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
to the west;
Lake Tanganyika lies along its southwestern border. The political
capital city
A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...
is
Gitega and the economic
capital city
A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...
is
Bujumbura.
The
Twa,
Hutu and
Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least 500 years. For more than 200 of those years, Burundi was an independent
kingdom. In 1885, it became part of the German colony of
German East Africa. After the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and
Germany's defeat, the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
mandated the territories of Burundi and neighboring Rwanda to Belgium in a combined territory called
Rwanda-Urundi. After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, this transformed into a
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
Trust Territory. Burundi gained independence in 1962 and initially retained the
monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...
. However, a
coup d'état in 1966 replaced the monarchy with a
one-party republic, and for the next 27 years, Burundi was ruled by a series of ethnic Tutsi dictators and notably experienced a
genocide of its Hutu population in 1972. In July 1993,
Melchior Ndadaye became Burundi's first Hutu president following the country's
first multi-party presidential election. His assassination three months later during a
coup attempt provoked the 12-year
Burundian Civil War. In 2000, the Arusha Agreement was adopted, which was largely integrated in a new constitution in 2005. Since the 2005 post-war elections, the country's dominant party has been the Hutu-led
National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD–FDD), widely accused of
authoritarian governance and perpetuating the country's
poor human rights record.
Burundi remains primarily a rural society, with just 13.4% of the population living in urban areas in 2019.
Burundi is densely populated, and many young people emigrate in search of opportunities elsewhere. Roughly 81% of the population are of
Hutu ethnic origin, 18% are
Tutsi, and fewer than 1% are
Twa.
[ Eggers, p. ix.] The
official language
An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...
s of Burundi are
Kirundi
Kirundi (), also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language and the national language of Burundi. It is mutually intelligible with Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda, and the two form parts of the Rwanda-Rundi dialect continuum spoken in Buru ...
,
French, and English—Kirundi being officially recognised as the sole
national language
'' ''
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection— de facto or de jure—with a nation. The term is applied quite differently in various contexts. One or more languages spoken as first languag ...
. English was made an official language in 2014.
One of the smallest countries in Africa, Burundi's land is used mostly for
subsistence agriculture and grazing.
Deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...
,
soil erosion
Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the Topsoil, upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, Atmosphere of Ea ...
, and
habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
are major ecological concerns. , the country was almost completely deforested. Less than 6% of its land was covered by trees, with over half of that being for commercial plantations. Burundi is the poorest country in the world by
nominal GDP per capita and is one of the
least developed countries
The least developed countries (LDCs) are developing countries listed by the United Nations that exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development. The concept of LDCs originated in the late 1960s and the first group of LDCs was listed b ...
. It faces widespread
poverty
Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...
,
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
,
instability,
authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
and
illiteracy. The 2018
World Happiness Report
The World Happiness Report is a publication that contains articles and rankings of national happiness, based on respondent ratings of their own lives, which the report also correlates with various (quality of) life factors.
Since 2024, the r ...
ranked the country as the world's least happy with a rank of 156.
Burundi is a member of the
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
,
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa,
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
,
East African Community (EAC),
OIF and the
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...
.
Etymology
Modern Burundi is named after the
King of Urundi, who ruled the region starting in the 16th century. It derives its name from a word "Urundi" in
Kirundi
Kirundi (), also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language and the national language of Burundi. It is mutually intelligible with Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda, and the two form parts of the Rwanda-Rundi dialect continuum spoken in Buru ...
the local language, which means "Another one". Later the Belgian mandate to
Ruanda-Urundi region came to rename it and their former capital
"Usumbura" of both kingdoms by adding the letter "B" in front of it.
History
Burundi is one of the few countries in Africa, along with its neighbour Rwanda among others (such as
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
,
Lesotho
Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
, and
Eswatini
Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...
), to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state. The early history of Burundi, and especially the role and nature of the country's three dominant ethnic groups, the Twa, Hutu and Tutsi, is highly debated amongst academics.
Kingdom of Burundi
The first evidence of the Burundian state dates back to the late 16th century where it emerged on the eastern foothills. Over the following centuries it expanded, annexing smaller neighbours. The Kingdom of Burundi or Urundi, in the Great Lakes region was a polity ruled by a traditional monarch with several princes beneath him; succession struggles were common.
["Kingdom of Burundi". Encyclopædia Britannica (Online ed.). Retrieved 15 October 2016.] The king, known as the ''mwami'' (translated as ruler) headed a princely aristocracy (''ganwa'') which owned most of the land and required a tribute, or tax, from local farmers (mainly Hutu) and herders (mainly Tutsi). The Kingdom of Burundi was characterised by a hierarchical political authority and tributary economic exchange.
In the mid-18th century, the Tutsi royalty consolidated authority over land, production, and distribution with the development of the ubugabire—a patron-client relationship in which the populace received royal protection in exchange for tribute and land tenure. By this time, the royal court was made up of the Tutsi-Banyaruguru. They had higher social status than other pastoralists such as the Tutsi-Hima. In the lower levels of this society were generally Hutu people, and at the very bottom of the pyramid were the Twa. The system had some fluidity, however. Some Hutu people belonged to the nobility and in this way also had a say in the functioning of the state.
The classification of Hutu or Tutsi was not merely based on ethnic criteria alone. Hutu farmers that managed to acquire wealth and livestock were regularly granted the higher social status of Tutsi, some even made it to become close advisors of the ''Ganwa''. On the other hand, there are also reports of Tutsi that lost all their cattle and subsequently lost their higher status and were called Hutu. Thus, the distinction between Hutu and Tutsi was also a socio-cultural concept, instead of a purely ethnic one.
[WEISSMAN, S., Preventing genocide in Burundi: lessons from international diplomacy, Washington D.C., United States Institute of Peace Press, 1998, p5.] There were also many reports of marriages between Hutu and Tutsi people. In general, regional ties and power struggles played a far more determining role in Burundi's politics than ethnicity.
Rule by Germany and Belgium
From 1884, the
German East Africa Company was active in the African Great Lakes region. As a result of heightened tensions and border disputes between the German East Africa Company, the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
and the
Sultanate of Zanzibar, the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
was called upon to put down the
Abushiri revolts and protect the empire's interests in the region. The German East Africa Company transferred its rights to the German Empire in 1891, in this way establishing the German colony of
German East Africa, which included Burundi (Urundi), Rwanda (Ruanda), and the mainland part of
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
(formerly known as
Tanganyika). The German Empire stationed armed forces in Rwanda and Burundi during the late 1880s. The location of the present-day city of
Gitega served as an administrative centre for the Ruanda-Urundi region.
During the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the
East African Campaign greatly affected the African Great Lakes region. The
Belgian and
British colonial forces of the
allied powers launched a
coordinated attack on the German colony. The German army stationed in Burundi was forced to retreat by the numerical superiority of the Belgian army and by 17 June 1916, Burundi and Rwanda were occupied. The
Force Publique and the British
Lake Force then started a thrust to capture
Tabora, an administrative centre of central German East Africa. After the war, as outlined in the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
, Germany was forced to cede "control" of the Western section of the former German East Africa to Belgium.
On 20 October 1924,
Ruanda-Urundi, which consisted of modern-day Rwanda and Burundi, became a Belgian
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
mandate territory, with
Usumbura as its capital. In practical terms it was considered part of the
Belgian colonial empire. Burundi, as part of Ruanda-Urundi, continued its kingship
dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others.
H ...
despite the presence of European authorities.
The Belgians, however, preserved many of the kingdom's institutions; the Burundian monarchy succeeded in surviving into the post-colonial period.
Following the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Ruanda-Urundi was classified as a
United Nations Trust Territory under Belgian administrative authority.
During the 1940s, a series of policies caused divisions throughout the country. On 4 October 1943, powers were split in the legislative division of Burundi's government between chiefdoms and lower chiefdoms. Chiefdoms were in charge of land, and lower sub-chiefdoms were established. Native authorities also had powers.
In 1948, Belgium allowed the region to form
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
.
These factions contributed to Burundi gaining its independence from Belgium, on 1 July 1962.
Independence
On 20 January 1959,
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
Mwami Mwambutsa IV requested Burundi's independence from Belgium and dissolution of the Ruanda-Urundi union.
In the following months, Burundian political parties began to advocate for the end of Belgian colonial rule and the separation of Rwanda and Burundi.
The first and largest of these political parties was the
Union for National Progress (UPRONA).
Burundi's push for independence was influenced by the
Rwandan Revolution and the accompanying instability and ethnic conflict that occurred there. As a result of the Rwandan Revolution, many Rwandan Tutsi refugees arrived in Burundi from 1959 to 1961.
Burundi's first
elections took place on 8 September 1961 and UPRONA, a multi-ethnic unity party led by
Prince Louis Rwagasore won just over 80% of the electorate's votes. In the wake of the elections, on 13 October, the 29-year-old
Prince Rwagasore was assassinated, robbing Burundi of its most popular and well-known nationalist.
The country claimed independence on 1 July 1962,
and legally changed its name from Ruanda-Urundi to Burundi. Burundi became a
constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...
with Mwami Mwambutsa IV, Prince Rwagasore's father, serving as the country's king.
On 18 September 1962 Burundi joined the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
.
In 1963, King Mwambutsa appointed a Hutu prime minister,
Pierre Ngendandumwe, but he was assassinated on 15 January 1965 by a Rwandan Tutsi employed by the US Embassy. The assassination occurred in the broader context of the
Congo Crisis during which
Western anti-communist countries were confronting the communist
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
as it attempted to make Burundi a logistics base for communist insurgents battling in Congo.
Parliamentary elections in May 1965 brought a majority of Hutu into the parliament, but when King Mwambutsa appointed a Tutsi prime minister, some Hutu felt this was unjust and ethnic tensions were further increased. In October 1965, an attempted
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup
, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
led by the Hutu-dominated police was carried out but failed. The Tutsi dominated army, then led by Tutsi officer Captain
Michel Micombero purged Hutu from their ranks and carried out reprisal attacks which ultimately claimed the lives of up to 5,000 people in a precursor to the
1972 Burundian Genocide.
King Mwambutsa, who had fled the country during the October coup of 1965, was deposed by a
coup in July 1966 and his teenage son,
Prince Ntare V, claimed the throne. In November that same year, the Tutsi Prime Minister, then-Captain Michel Micombero, carried out another
coup, this time deposing Ntare, abolishing the monarchy and declaring the nation a
republic
A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
, though his one-party government was effectively a
military dictatorship
A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...
.
As president, Micombero became an advocate of
African socialism and received support from the People's Republic of China. He imposed a staunch regime of law and order and sharply repressed Hutu militarism.
Civil war and genocides
In late April 1972, two events led to the outbreak of the
First Burundian Genocide. On 27 April 1972, a rebellion led by
Hutu members of the
gendarmerie broke out in the lakeside towns of
Rumonge and
Nyanza-Lac and the rebels declared the short-lived
Martyazo Republic. The rebels attacked both Tutsi and any Hutu who refused to join their rebellion.
During this initial Hutu outbreak, anywhere from 800 to 1200 people were killed. At the same time, King
Ntare V of Burundi returned from exile, heightening political tension in the country. On 29 April 1972, the 24-year-old Ntare V was murdered. In subsequent months, the Tutsi-dominated government of
Michel Micombero used the army to combat Hutu rebels and commit genocide, murdering targeted members of the Hutu majority. The total number of casualties was never established, but contemporary estimates put the number of people killed between 80,000 and 210,000.
[White, Matthew]
Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century: C. Burundi (1972–73, primarily Hutu killed by Tutsi) 120,000
[
International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi (2002). Paragraph 85. "The Micombero regime responded with a genocidal repression that is estimated to have caused over a hundred thousand victims and forced several hundred thousand Hutus into exile"
] In addition, several hundred thousand Hutu were estimated to have fled the killings into
Zaïre,
Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
and
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
.
Following the civil war and genocide, Micombero became mentally distraught and withdrawn. In 1976, Colonel
Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, a Tutsi, led a
bloodless coup to topple Micombero and set about promoting reform. His administration drafted a new constitution in 1981, which maintained Burundi's status as a
one-party state
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...
.
In August 1984, Bagaza was elected head of state. During his tenure, Bagaza suppressed political opponents and religious freedoms.
Major
Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi,
overthrew Bagaza in 1987, suspended the constitution and dissolved political parties. He reinstated military rule by a Military Committee for National Salvation (CSMN).
Anti-Tutsi ethnic propaganda disseminated by the remnants of the 1972 UBU, which had re-organized as PALIPEHUTU in 1981, led to
killings of Tutsi peasants in the northern communes of
Ntega and
Marangara in August 1988. The government put the death toll at 5,000, some international NGOs believed this understated the deaths.
The new regime did not unleash the harsh reprisals of 1972. Its effort to gain public trust was eroded when it decreed an
amnesty for those who had called for, carried out, and taken credit for the killings. Analysts have called this period the beginning of the "culture of impunity." Other analysts put the origins of the "culture of impunity" earlier, in 1965 and 1972, when a small number of identifiable Hutus unleashed massive killings of Tutsis.
In the aftermath of the killings, a group of Hutu intellectuals wrote an open letter to
Pierre Buyoya, asking for more representation of the Hutu in the administration. They were arrested and jailed. A few weeks later, Buyoya appointed a new government, with an equal number of Hutu and Tutsi ministers. He appointed
Adrien Sibomana (Hutu) as Prime Minister. Buyoya also created a commission to address issues of national unity.
In 1992, the government created a new constitution that provided for a multi-party system,
but a
civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
broke out.
An estimated total of 250,000 people died in Burundi from the various conflicts between 1962 and 1993.
Since Burundi's independence in 1962, two
genocides have taken place in the country: the 1972 mass killings of Hutus by the Tutsi-dominated army, and the mass killings of Tutsis in 1993 by the Hutu majority. Both were described as genocides in the final report of the International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi presented in 2002 to the
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
.
First attempt at democracy and war between Tutsi National Army and Hutu population
In June 1993,
Melchior Ndadaye, leader of the Hutu-dominated
Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU), won the first democratic election. He became the first Hutu head of state, leading a pro-Hutu government. Though he attempted 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. The ensuing
Burundian Civil War (1993–2005) saw persistent violence between Hutu rebels and the Tutsi majority army. It is estimated that some 300,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the years following the assassination.
In early 1994, the parliament elected
Cyprien Ntaryamira (Hutu) to the office of president. He and
Juvénal Habyarimana, the president of Rwanda, both Hutus, died together
when their airplane was shot down in April 1994. More refugees started fleeing to Rwanda. Speaker of Parliament,
Sylvestre Ntibantunganya (Hutu), was appointed as president in October 1994. A coalition government involving 12 of the 13 parties was formed. A feared general massacre was averted, but violence broke out. A number of Hutu refugees in Bujumbura, the then-capital, were killed. The mainly Tutsi Union for National Progress withdrew from the government and parliament.
In 1996,
Pierre Buyoya (Tutsi) again took power through a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup
, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
. He suspended the constitution and was sworn in as president in 1998. This was the start of his second term as president, after his first term from 1987 to 1993. In response to rebel attacks, the government forced much of the population to move to
refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...
s. Under Buyoya's rule, long peace talks started, mediated by
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. Both parties signed agreements in
Arusha,
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
and
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country.
Pretoria strad ...
, South Africa, to share power in Burundi. The agreements took four years to plan.

On 28 August 2000, a transitional government for Burundi was planned as a part of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement. The transitional government was placed on a trial basis for five years. After several aborted cease-fires, a 2001 peace plan and power-sharing agreement has been relatively successful. A cease-fire was signed in 2003 between the Tutsi-controlled Burundian government and the largest Hutu rebel group, CNDD-FDD (National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy).
In 2003, FRODEBU leader
Domitien Ndayizeye (Hutu) was elected president. In early 2005, ethnic quotas were formed for determining positions in Burundi's government. Throughout the year, elections for parliament and president occurred.
Pierre Nkurunziza (Hutu), once a leader of a rebel group, was elected president in 2005. , the Burundian government was talking with the Hutu-led Palipehutu-National Liberation Forces (NLF) to bring peace to the country.
Peace agreements
African leaders began a series of peace talks between the warring factions following a request by the United Nations Secretary General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali for them to intervene in the humanitarian crisis. Talks were initiated under the aegis of former Tanzanian President
Julius Nyerere in 1995; following his death, South African President
Nelson Mandela took the helm. As the talks progressed, South African President
Thabo Mbeki
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...
and United States President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
also lent their respective weight.
The main objective was to transform the Burundian government and military structurally in order to bridge the ethnic gap between the Tutsi and Hutu. It was to take place in two major steps. First, a transitional power-sharing government would be established, with the presidents holding office for three-year terms. The second objective involved a restructuring of the armed forces, where the two groups would be represented equally.
As the protracted nature of the peace talks demonstrated, the mediators and negotiating parties confronted several obstacles. First, the Burundian officials perceived the goals as "unrealistic" and viewed the treaty as ambiguous, contradictory and confusing. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the Burundians believed the treaty would be irrelevant without an accompanying cease fire. This would require separate and direct talks with the rebel groups. The main Hutu party was skeptical of the offer of a power-sharing government; they alleged that they had been deceived by the Tutsi in past agreements.
In 2000, the Burundian President signed the treaty, as well as 13 of the 19 warring Hutu and Tutsi factions. Disagreements persisted over which group would preside over the nascent government, and when the ceasefire would begin. The spoilers of the peace talks were the hardliner Tutsi and Hutu groups who refused to sign the accord; as a result, violence intensified. Three years later at a summit of African leaders in Tanzania, the Burundian president and the main opposition Hutu group signed an accord to end the conflict; the signatory members were granted ministerial posts within the government. However, smaller militant Hutu groups – such as the Forces for National Liberation – remained active.
UN involvement
Between 1993 and 2003, many rounds of peace talks, overseen by regional leaders in Tanzania, South Africa and
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
, gradually established power-sharing agreements to satisfy the majority of the contending groups. Initially the South African Protection Support Detachment was deployed to protect Burundian leaders returning from exile. These forces became part of the
African Union Mission to Burundi, 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.
[Howard, Lise Morje (2008). UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars. New York: Cambridge University Press.]
The mission's mandate, under
Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter
Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets out the UN Security Council's powers to maintain peace. It allows the Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military a ...
, has been to monitor cease-fire, carry out disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former military personnel, support humanitarian assistance and refugee and IDP return, assist with elections, protect international staff and Burundian civilians, monitor Burundi's troublesome borders, including halting illicit arms flows, and assist in carrying out institutional reforms including those of the Constitution, judiciary, armed forces and police. The mission has been allotted 5,650 military personnel, 120 civilian police and about 1,000 international and local civilian personnel. The mission has been functioning well. It has greatly benefited from the transitional government, which has functioned and is in the process of transitioning to one that will be popularly elected.
The main difficulty in the early stages was continued resistance to the peace process by the last Hutu nationalist rebel group. This organisation continued its violent conflict on the outskirts of the capital despite the UN's presence. By June 2005, the group had stopped fighting and its representatives were brought back into the political process. All political parties have accepted a formula for inter-ethnic power-sharing: no political party can gain access to government offices unless it is ethnically integrated.
The focus of the UN's mission had been to enshrine the power-sharing arrangements in a popularly voted constitution, so that elections may be held and a new government installed. Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration were done in tandem with elections preparations. In February 2005, the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
was approved with over 90% of the popular vote. In May, June and August 2005, three separate elections were also held at the local level for the Parliament and the presidency.
While there are still some difficulties with refugee returns and securing adequate food supplies for the war-weary population, the mission managed to win the trust and confidence of a majority of the formerly warring leaders, as well as the population at large.
It was involved with several "quick effect" projects, including rehabilitating and building schools, orphanages, health clinics and rebuilding infrastructure such as water lines.
The 2005 Constitution formalised a complex power-sharing architecture that has been described as "associational" in its logic, as it aims to provide guarantees of representation for the Tutsi minority without entrenching the ethnic cleavage at the centre of Burundian politics. This institutional design provides an original contribution from Burundian negotiators and constitution makers to institutional options to manage ethnic conflict.
2006 to 2018

Reconstruction efforts in Burundi started to practically take effect after 2006. The UN shut down its peacekeeping mission and re-focused on helping with reconstruction.
[Timeline Burundi](_blank)
BBC. . (accessed on 29 October 2008) Toward achieving
economic reconstruction
Economic reconstruction is a process for creating a proactive vision of economic change. The most basic idea is that problems in the economy, such as deindustrialization, environmental decay, outsourcing, industrial incompetence, poverty and a ...
, Rwanda,
D.R.Congo and Burundi relaunched the regional
Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries.
In addition, Burundi, along with Rwanda, joined the
East African Community in 2007.
However, the terms of the September 2006 Ceasefire between the government and the last remaining armed opposition group, the
FLN (Forces for National Liberation, also called NLF or FROLINA), were not totally implemented, and senior FLN members subsequently left the truce monitoring team, claiming that their security was threatened. In September 2007, rival FLN factions clashed in the capital, killing 20 fighters and causing residents to begin fleeing. Rebel raids were reported in other parts of the country.
The rebel factions disagreed with the government over disarmament and the release of political prisoners.
[Burundi: Release Civilians Detained Without Charge , Human Rights Watch](_blank)
. Hrw.org (29 May 2008). Retrieved 24 November 2012. In late 2007 and early 2008, FLN combatants attacked government-protected camps where former combatants were living. The homes of rural residents were also pillaged.
The 2007 report
of
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
mentions many areas where improvement is required. Civilians are victims of repeated acts of violence done by the FLN. The latter also recruits child soldiers. The rate of violence against women is high. Perpetrators regularly escape prosecution and punishment by the state. There is an urgent need for reform of the judicial system.
Genocide
Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
,
war crimes
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
and
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
continued to go unpunished.
In late March 2008, the FLN sought for the parliament to adopt a law guaranteeing them 'provisional immunity' from arrest. This would cover ordinary crimes, but not grave violations of international humanitarian law like war crimes or crimes against humanity .
Even though the government has granted this in the past to people, the FLN has been unable to obtain the provisional immunity.
On 17 April 2008, the FLN bombarded Bujumbura. The Burundian army fought back and the FLN suffered heavy losses. A new ceasefire was signed on 26 May 2008. In August 2008, President Nkurunziza met with the FLN leader
Agathon Rwasa, with the mediation of
Charles Nqakula, South Africa's Minister for Safety and Security. This was the first direct meeting since June 2007. Both agreed to meet twice a week to establish a commission to resolve any disputes that might arise during the peace negotiations.
The UN has attempted to evaluate the impact of its peace-building initiatives. In the early 2010s, the UN peacekeeping mission in Burundi sought to assess the success of its Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program by counting the number of arms that had been collected, given the prevalence of arms in the country. However, these evaluations failed to include data from local populations, which are significant in impact evaluations of peacebuilding initiatives.
As of 2012, Burundi was participating in African Union peacekeeping missions, including the
mission to Somalia against Al-Shabaab militants. In 2014, the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...
was established, initially for four years and then extended for another four in 2018.
2015 unrest
In April 2015 protests broke out after the ruling party announced President
Pierre Nkurunziza would seek a third term in office. Protestors claimed Nkurunziza could not run for a third term in office but the country's constitutional court agreed with Nkurunziza (although some of its members had fled the country at the time of its vote).
An attempted coup d'état on 13 May failed to depose Nkurunziza.
He returned to Burundi, began purging his government, and arrested several of the coup leaders. Following the attempted coup, however, protests continued; over 100,000 people had fled the country by 20 May, causing a humanitarian emergency. There are reports of continued and widespread abuses of human rights, including unlawful killings, torture, disappearances, and restrictions on freedom of expression.
Despite calls by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, the
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
, the United States, France,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, Belgium, and various other governments to refrain, the ruling party
held parliamentary elections on 29 June, but these were boycotted by the opposition.
On 30 September 2016, the
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a United Nations Regional Gro ...
established the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi through resolution 33/24. Its mandate is to "conduct a thorough investigation into human rights violations and abuses committed in Burundi since April 2015, to identify alleged perpetrators and to formulate recommendations." On 29 September 2017 the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi called on Burundian government to put an end to serious
human rights violations. It further stressed that, "The Burundian government has so far refused to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry, despite the Commission's repeated requests and initiatives."
The violations the Commission documented include
arbitrary arrests and detentions, acts of
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
and cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment,
extrajudicial executions,
enforced disappearances,
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
and other forms of sexual violence."
2018 to present

In a
constitutional referendum in May 2018, Burundians voted by 79.08% to approve an amended constitution that ensured that Nkurunziza could remain in power until 2034. However, much to the surprise of most observers, Nkurunziza later announced that he did not intend to serve another term, paving the way for a new president to be elected in the
2020 general election.
On 20 May 2020,
Evariste Ndayishimiye, a candidate who was hand-picked as Nkurunziza's successor by the CNDD-FDD, won the election with 71.45% of the vote.
Shortly after, on 9 June 2020, Nkurunziza died of a cardiac arrest, at the age of 55.
There was some speculation that his death was COVID-19 related, though this is unconfirmed. As per the constitution,
Pascal Nyabenda, the president of the national assembly, led the government until Ndayishimiye's inauguration on 18 June 2020.
In December 2021, a
large prison fire killed dozens in the capital city of
Gitega.
In November 2022, in challenges to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, Burundi's economic growth increased slightly to 3 percent, according to an assessment of the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
.
Currently, Burundi remains as one of the poorest nations on Earth based on a
Gross National Income
The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total amount of factor incomes earned by the residents of a country. It is equal to gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes received from ...
(GNI) of $270 per capita.
The
fall of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in January 2025 was the largest escalation of the
conflict in Kivu since 2012 and raised concerns that the Rwandan-backed
M23 rebel campaign could turn into a larger regional war due to the presence of troops from Rwanda and Burundi in the
Kivu
Kivu is the name for a large region in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that borders Lake Kivu. It was a ''Région'' (read 'province') of the country under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko from 1966 to 1988. As an official ''Région'' ...
provinces. Thousands of soldiers had been deployed to assist the
Congolese army in
South Kivu by Burundi, which has a Hutu-dominated government and previously accused Rwanda of backing a
2015 coup attempt, adding to concern for the potential of a larger regional war.
Government

Burundi's political system is that of a
presidential representative democratic republic based upon a multi-party state. The president of Burundi is the
head of state
A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
and
head of government
In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...
. There are currently 21
registered parties in Burundi.
On 13 March 1992, Tutsi coup leader
Pierre Buyoya established a constitution, which provided for a multi-party political process and reflected multi-party competition.
[ From "The Financial Times World Desk Reference". Dorling Kindersley. 2004. Prentice Hall. Retrieved 30 June 2008.] Six years later, on 6 June 1998, the constitution was changed, broadening
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
's seats and making provisions for two vice-presidents. Because of the
Arusha Accord, Burundi enacted a transitional government in 2000.
Burundi's legislative branch is a
bicameral
Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...
assembly, consisting of the Transitional National Assembly and the
Transitional Senate. , the Transitional National Assembly consisted of 170 members, with the Front for Democracy in Burundi holding 38% of seats, and 10% of the assembly controlled by UPRONA. Fifty-two seats were controlled by other parties. Burundi's constitution mandates representation in the Transitional National Assembly to be consistent with 60% Hutu, 40% Tutsi, and 30% female members, as well as three Batwa members.
Members of the National Assembly are elected by popular vote and serve five-year terms.
The Transitional Senate has fifty-one members, and three seats are reserved for former presidents. Due to stipulations in Burundi's constitution, 30% of Senate members must be female. Members of the Senate are elected by electoral colleges, which consist of members from each of Burundi's provinces and communes.
[Background Note: Burundi](_blank)
. United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...
. February 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2008. For each of Burundi's eighteen provinces, one Hutu and one Tutsi senator are chosen. One term for the Transitional Senate is five years.
Together, Burundi's legislative branch elect the president to a five-year term.
Burundi's president appoints officials to his Council of Ministers, which is also part of the executive branch.
The president can also pick fourteen members of the Transitional Senate to serve on the Council of Ministers.
Members of the Council of Ministers must be approved by two-thirds of Burundi's legislature. The president also chooses two vice-presidents.
Following the 2015 election, the president of Burundi was
Pierre Nkurunziza. The first vice-president was Therence Sinunguruza, and the Second Vice-president was Gervais Rufyikiri.
On 20 May 2020,
Evariste Ndayishimiye, a candidate who was hand-picked as Nkurunziza's successor by the CNDD-FDD, won
the election with 71.45% of the vote. Shortly after, on 9 June 2020, Nkurunziza died of a cardiac arrest, at the age of 55. As per the constitution, Pascal Nyabenda, the president of the national assembly, led the government until Ndayishimiye's inauguration on 18 June 2020.
The ''Cour Suprême'' (Supreme Court) is Burundi's highest court. There are three Courts of Appeals directly below the Supreme Court. Tribunals of First Instance are used as judicial courts in each of Burundi's provinces as well as 123 local tribunals.
Human rights
Burundi's government has been repeatedly criticised by human rights organisations including
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
for the multiple arrests and trials of journalist
Jean-Claude Kavumbagu for issues related to his reporting.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
(AI) named him a
prisoner of conscience and called for his "immediate and unconditional release."
In April 2009, the government of Burundi changed the law to criminalise
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
. Persons found guilty of consensual same-sex relations risk three months to two years in prison and/or a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 Burundian francs. Amnesty International has condemned the action, calling it a violation of Burundi's obligations under international and regional human rights law, and against the constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy.
Burundi officially left the
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
(ICC) on 27 October 2017, the first country in the world to do so.
The move came after the UN accused the country of various crimes and human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, torture and sexual violence, in a September 2017 report.
The ICC announced on 9 November 2017 that human rights violations from the time Burundi was a member would still be prosecuted.
Administrative divisions
Burundi is divided into 18
provinces
A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...
,
119
communes,
and 2,638
collines (hills). Provincial governments are structured upon these boundaries.
Burundi's provinces and communes were created on Christmas Day in 1959 by a Belgian colonial decree. They replaced the pre-existing system of chieftains.
In 2000, the province encompassing Bujumbura was separated into two provinces, Bujumbura Rural and Bujumbura Mairie.
[ Eggers, p. xlix.] The newest province,
Rumonge, was created on 26 March 2015 from portions of Bujumbura Rural and Bururi.
In July 2022, the government of Burundi announced a complete overhaul of the country's territorial subdivisions. The proposed change would reduce the amounts of provinces from 18 to 5, and reduce the amount of communes from 119 to 42. The change was approved by both the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
and the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and will take effect in 2025 with the new parliamentary elections.
With the new administrative division, the country is now made up of 5 provinces : Buhumuza, Bujumbura, Burunga, Butanyerera and Gitega. These provinces are furthermore subdivided into 42 communes, 451 zones and 3044 hills (or districts)
Geography
Hippos at Kibira National Park in northwest Burundi
One of the smallest countries in Africa, Burundi is landlocked and has an
equatorial climate. Burundi is a part of the
Albertine Rift, the western extension of the
East African Rift. The country lies on a rolling
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...
in the centre of Africa. Burundi is bordered by
Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
to the north,
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
to the east and southeast, and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
to the west. It lies within the
Albertine Rift montane forests,
Central Zambezian miombo woodlands, and
Victoria Basin forest-savanna mosaic ecoregions.
The average elevation of the central plateau is , with lower elevations at the borders. The highest peak,
Mount Heha at , lies to the southeast of the largest city and economic capital, Bujumbura. The source of the
Nile River is in Bururi province, and is linked from Lake Victoria to its headwaters via the
Ruvyironza River.
Lake Victoria is also an important water source, which serves as a fork to the
Kagera River. Another major lake is
Lake Tanganyika, located in much of Burundi's southwestern corner.
In Burundi
forest cover
Forest cover is the amount of trees that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/ square miles). Nearly a third of the world's land surface is covered with forest, with clos ...
is around 11% of the total land area, equivalent to 279,640 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 276,480 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 166,670 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 112,970 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 23% was reported to be
primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 41% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under
public ownership.
There are two
national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
s:
Kibira National Park to the northwest (a small region of rainforest, adjacent to
Nyungwe Forest National Park in Rwanda), and
Ruvubu National Park to the northeast (along the
Rurubu River, also known as Ruvubu or Ruvuvu). Both were established in 1982 to conserve wildlife populations.
Wildlife
Economy

Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural, accounting for 50% of GDP in 2017 and employing more than 90% of the population.
Subsistence agriculture accounts for 90% of agriculture. Burundi's primary exports are coffee and tea, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, though exports are a relatively small share of GDP. Other agricultural products include cotton, tea, maize,
sorghum
''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...
, sweet potatoes, bananas,
manioc (tapioca); beef, milk and hides. Even though
subsistence farming
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occ ...
is highly relied upon, many people do not have the resources to sustain themselves. This is due to large population growth and no coherent policies governing land ownership. In 2014, the average farm size was about one acre.
Burundi is one of the world's poorest countries, owing in part to its landlocked geography,
lack of access to education and the proliferation of
HIV/AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
. Approximately 80% of Burundi's population lives in poverty. Famines and food shortages have occurred throughout Burundi, most notably in the 20th century,
and according to the
World Food Programme, 56.8% of children under age five suffer from chronic
malnutrition
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
. Burundi's export earnings – and its ability to pay for imports – rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices.
The purchasing power of most Burundians has decreased as wage increases have not kept up with inflation. As a result of deepening poverty, Burundi will remain heavily dependent on aid from bilateral and multilateral donors. Foreign aid represents 42% of Burundi's national income, the second highest rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. Burundi joined the East African Community in 2009, which should boost its regional trade ties, and also in 2009 received $700 million in debt relief. Government corruption is hindering the development of a healthy private sector as companies seek to navigate an environment with ever-changing rules.
Studies since 2007 have shown Burundians to have extremely poor levels of
satisfaction with life; the
World Happiness Report 2018 rated them the world's least happy.

Some of Burundi's natural resources include
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
, nickel,
cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...
,
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
and
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
. Besides agriculture, other industries include: the assembly of imported components; public works construction; food processing, and light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, and soap.
In regards to telecommunications infrastructure, Burundi is ranked second to last in the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
's Network Readiness Index (NRI) – an indicator for determining the development level of a country's information and communication technologies. Burundi ranked number 147 overall in the 2014 NRI ranking, down from 144 in 2013.
Lack of access to financial services is a serious problem for the majority of the population, particularly in densely populated rural areas: only 2% of the total population holds bank accounts and fewer than 0.5% use bank lending services.
Microfinance
Microfinance consists of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses (SMEs) who lack access to conventional banking and related services.
Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; saving ...
, however, plays a larger role, with 4% of Burundians being members of microfinance institutions – a larger share of the population than that reached by banking and postal services combined. 26 licensed microfinance institutions (MFIs) offer savings, deposits, and short- to medium-term credit. The dependence of the sector on donor assistance is limited.
Burundi is part of the
East African Community and a potential member of the planned
East African Federation. Burundi economy has declined since 1990s and Burundi is behind all neighbouring countries.
Burundi was ranked 127th in the
Global Innovation Index
The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for and success in innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and ''World Business'', a Britis ...
in 2024.
Currency
Burundi's currency is the
Burundian franc. It is nominally subdivided into 100
centimes, though coins have never been issued in centimes in independent Burundi; centime coins were circulated only when Burundi used the
Belgian Congo franc.
Monetary policy is controlled by the
central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
,
Bank of the Republic of Burundi.
Transport

Burundi's transport network is limited and underdeveloped. According to a 2012 ''DHL Global Connectedness Index'', Burundi is the least globalised of 140 surveyed countries.
Bujumbura International Airport is the only airport with a paved runway and as of May 2017 it was serviced by four airlines (
Brussels Airlines,
Ethiopian Airlines,
Kenya Airways and
RwandAir).
Kigali
Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...
is the city with the most daily flight connections to Bujumbura. The country has a road network but less than 10% of the country's roads were paved and private bus companies were the main operators of buses on the international route to Kigali; however, there were no bus connections to the other neighbouring countries (Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo). Bujumbura is connected by a passenger and cargo ferry (the
MV Mwongozo) to
Kigoma in Tanzania. There is a
long-term plan to link the country via rail to Kigali and then onward to Kampala and Kenya.
Demographics

As of October 2021, Burundi was estimated by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
to have a population of 12,346,893, compared to only 2,456,000 in 1950. The
population growth rate is 2.5 percent per year, more than double the average global pace, and a Burundian woman has on average 5.10 children, more than double the international
fertility rate.
Burundi had the tenth highest
total fertility rate in the world, just behind Somalia, in 2021.
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.
Burundi remains an overwhelmingly rural society, with just 13% of the population living in urban areas in 2013.
The population density of around 315 people per square kilometre (753 per sq mi) is the second highest in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
.
Roughly 85% of the population are of
Hutu ethnic origin, 15% are
Tutsi and fewer than 1% are indigenous
Twa.
Non-Africans in Burundi include approximately 3,000 Europeans and 2,000 South Asians.
Languages
The
official language
An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...
s of Burundi are
Kirundi
Kirundi (), also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language and the national language of Burundi. It is mutually intelligible with Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda, and the two form parts of the Rwanda-Rundi dialect continuum spoken in Buru ...
,
French, and
English. English was made an official language in 2014.
Virtually the entire population speaks Kirundi, and just under 10% speak French.
Religion
Sources estimate the Christian population at 80–90%, with Roman Catholics representing the largest group at 60–65%.
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
and
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
practitioners constitute the remaining 15–25%. An estimated 5% of the population adheres to traditional indigenous religious beliefs. Muslims constitute 2–5%, the majority of whom are
Sunnis and live in urban areas.
[Burundi](_blank)
U.S. Department of State. State.gov (17 November 2010). Retrieved 24 November 2012.
Health
Burundi has the worst hunger and malnourishment rates of all 120 countries ranked in the
Global Hunger Index.
[Jillian Keenan]
The Blood Cries Out
. "In one of Africa's most densely populated countries, brothers are killing brothers over the right to farm mere acres of earth. There's just not enough land to go around in Burundi — and it could push the country into civil war." ''Foreign Policy
Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
(FP)'' The civil war in 1962 put a stop on the medical advancements in the country.
Burundi, again, went into a violent cycle in 2015, jeopardising the citizens of Burundi's medical care.
[ ] Like other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Burundi uses indigenous medicine in addition to
biomedicine. In the 1980s, Burundi's health authorities asked the United Nations Development Program for support to develop quality control for and begin new research on pharmaceuticals from medicinal plants.
At the same time, the Burundi Association of Traditional Practitioners (ATRADIBU) was founded, which teamed up with the governments agency to set up the Centre for Research and Promotion of Traditional Medicine in Burundi (CRPMT).
The recent influx of international aid has supported the work of biomedical health systems in Burundi. However, international aid workers have traditionally stayed away from indigenous medicine in Burundi.
As of 2015, roughly 1 out of 10 children in Burundi die before the age of 5 from preventable and treatable illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria.
The current violence in Burundi has limited the country's access to medication and hospital equipment. The life expectancy in Burundi, as of 2015, was 60.1 years.
[ ] In 2013, Burundi spent 8% of their GDP on healthcare.
While Burundi's
fertility
Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...
rate is 6.1 children per women, the country's infant
death rate is 61.9 deaths for every 1,000 live births.
Common diseases in Burundi include malaria and typhoid fever.
Culture

Burundi's culture is based on local tradition and the influence of neighbouring countries, though cultural prominence has been hindered by
civil unrest
Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, civil strife, or turmoil, are situations when law enforcement and security forces struggle to maintain public order or tranquility.
Causes
Any number of things may cause civil di ...
. Since farming is the main industry, a typical Burundian meal consists of
sweet potatoes,
corn,
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
and
peas. Due to the expense, meat is eaten only a few times per month.
When several Burundians of close acquaintance meet for a gathering they drink ''impeke'', a beer, together from a large container to symbolise unity.
Notable Burundians include: the footballers
Mohamed Tchité,
Gaël Bigirimana,
Youssouf Ndayishimiye; the professor of Economics
Léonce Ndikumana, the philanthropist
Deogratias Niyizonkiza, the writer and model
Esther Kamatari, the humanitarian activist
Marguerite Barankitse, the journalist and chief editor
Antoine Kaburahe and the singer
Jean-Pierre Nimbona, popularly known as Kidumu (who is based in
Nairobi
Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
, Kenya).
Crafts are an important art form in Burundi and are attractive gifts to many tourists. Basket weaving is a popular craft for local artisans, as well as other crafts such as masks, shields, statues and pottery.
[ Cultural Profiles Project. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Retrieved 30 June 2008.]
Drumming is an important part of the cultural heritage. The world-famous
Royal Drummers of Burundi, who have performed for over 40 years, are noted for traditional drumming using the
karyenda, amashako, ibishikiso and ikiranya drums. Dance often accompanies drumming performance, which is frequently seen in celebrations and family gatherings. The abatimbo, which is performed at official ceremonies and rituals and the fast-paced abanyagasimbo are some famous Burundian dances. Some musical instruments of note are the flute,
zither,
ikembe, indonongo,
umuduri, inanga and the inyagara.

The country's
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...
is strong, relaying history and life lessons through storytelling, poetry and song. Imigani, indirimbo, amazina and ivyivugo are literary genres in Burundi.
Basketball and track and field are noted sports. Martial arts are popular, as well. There are five major judo clubs: Club Judo de l'Entente Sportive, in Downtown, and four others throughout the city.
Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
is a popular pastime throughout the country, as are
mancala
Mancala ( ''manqalah'') is a family of two-player Turns, rounds and time-keeping systems in games, turn-based Strategy game, strategy board games played with small stones, beans, marbles or seeds and rows of holes or pits in the earth, a board ...
games.
Most Christian holidays are celebrated, with Christmas being the largest. Burundian Independence Day is celebrated annually on 1 July. In 2005, the Burundian government declared
Eid al-Fitr
Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main Islamic holidays, festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide becaus ...
, an Islamic holiday, to be a public holiday.
[Burundi celebrates Muslim holiday](_blank)
. BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
. 3 November 2005. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
Media
Education

In 2012, the adult
literacy
Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
rate in Burundi was estimated to be 74.71% for men and women between the ages of 15 and 24, while the youth literacy rate was much higher at 92.58%.
Burundi has a comparatively high literacy rate to other countries in the region, which is only about 10% lower than the global average.
Ten percent of Burundian boys are allowed a secondary education.
Burundi has one public university,
University of Burundi. There are museums in the cities, such as the
Burundi Geological Museum in
Bujumbura and the
Burundi National Museum and the
Burundi Museum of Life in
Gitega.
In 2010 a new elementary school was opened in the small village of Rwoga that is funded by the pupils of Westwood High School, Quebec, Canada.
Westwood Bridge to Burundi
. Facebook. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
As of 2022, Burundi invested the equivalent of 5% of its GDP in education.
Science and technology
Burundi's ''Strategic Plan for Science, Technology, Research and Innovation'' (2013) covers the following areas: food technology; medical sciences; energy, mining and transportation; water; desertification; environmental biotechnology and indigenous knowledge; materials science; engineering and industry; ICTs; space sciences; mathematical sciences; and social and human sciences.
With regard to material sciences, Burundi's publication intensity doubled from 0.6 to 1.2 articles per million inhabitants between 2012 and 2019, placing it in the top 15 for sub-Saharan Africa for this strategic technology.
Medical sciences remain the main focus of research: medical researchers accounted for 4% of the country's scientists in 2018 but 41% of scientific publications between 2011 and 2019.
The focus of the ''Strategic Plan for Science, Technology, Research and Innovation'' (2013) has been on developing an institutional framework and infrastructure, fostering greater regional and international co-operation and placing science in society. In October 2014, the EAC Secretariat designated the National Institute of Public Health a centre of excellence. Data are unavailable on output on nutritional sciences, the institute's area of specialization, but between 2011 and 2019, Burundi scientists produced seven articles on each of HIV and tropical communicable diseases and a further five on tuberculosis, all focus areas for the Sustainable Development Goals
The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
.
The ''Strategic Plan'' has also focused on training researchers. Researcher density (in head counts) grew from 40 to 55 researchers per million inhabitants between 2011 and 2018. The amount of funding available to each researcher more than doubled from PPP$14,310 (constant 2005 values) to PPP$22,480, since the domestic research effort has also risen since 2012, from 0.11% to 0.21% of GDP.
Burundi has almost tripled its scientific output since 2011 but the pace has not picked up since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals
The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
in 2015. With six scientific publications per million inhabitants, Burundi still has one of the lowest publication rate in Central and East Africa. Some 97.5% of publications involved foreign co-authorship between 2017 and 2019, with Ugandans figuring among the top five partners.
See also
* Outline of Burundi
* Culture of Burundi
* Index of Burundi-related articles
* Wildlife of Burundi
* National Defence Force (Burundi)
* Anti-clerical campaign of the government of Burundi
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
* Abdallah, Ahmedou Ould ''Burundi on the Brink, 1993–95: A UN Special Envoy Reflects on Preventive Diplomacy''
*
* Bentley, Kristina and Southall, Roger ''An African Peace Process: Mandela, South Africa, and Burundi''
* Chrétien, Jean-Pierre ''The Great Lakes of Africa: Two Thousand Years of History''
* Daley, Patricia ''Gender and Genocide in Burundi: The Search for Spaces of Peace in the Great Lakes Region''
*
* Ewusi, Kale and Akwanga, Ebenezer ''Burundi's Negative Peace: The Shadow of a Broken Continent in the Era of Nepad''
* Jennings, Christian ''Across the Red River: Rwanda, Burundi and the Heart of Darkness''
* Kayoya, Michel ''My Father's Footsteps'' (''Sur les traces de mon père'') East African Publishing House, 1973
* Kayoya, Michel ''Entre deux mondes'' (Between two worlds) Lavigerie Éditeurs, Bujumbura: 1971. Kayoya was murdered during the 1972 genocide.
* Kidder, Tracy, ''Strength in What Remains'' (A biography of a Burundian immigrant to the US)
*
* Melady, Thomas Patrick ''Burundi: The Tragic Years''
* Nivonzima, David and Fendell, Len ''Unlocking Horns: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Burundi''
* Uvin, Peter ''Life After Violence: A People's Story of Burundi''
* Watt, Nigel '' Burundi: The Biography of a Small African Country''
* 1st. edition.
External links
* Records o
the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi (UNICIB) (1995–1996)
at the United Nations Archives
Official Burundi government website
Official Website of the Ministry of Justice of Burundi
Burundi
''The World Factbook
''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a Reference work, reference resource produced by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The off ...
''. Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
.
Burundi
from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''
Burundi
from the BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
*
Key Development Forecasts for Burundi
from International Futures
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Central African countries
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1962 establishments in Burundi
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