Timeline Burundi
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A former Belgian colony with 85% Hutu, 14%
Tutsi people and 1% Twa.
(SFC, 4/12/96, p.A-12)(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1901 Feb 23,
Britain and Germany agreed on a boundary between German East Africa
[later Tanganyika, Rwanda and Burundi] and Nyasaland [later Malawi].
(HN, 2/23/98)(WUD, 1994, p.593,990)
1923 The kingdoms of Ruanda and
Urundi, a part of German East Africa, were conquered by British and
Belgian troops during WWI, and became a Belgian mandate in 1923.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.A12)(HNQ, 11/4/99)
1962 Jul 1, Burundi gained
independence from Belgium. The UN trust territory of Ruanda-Urundi
in east-central Africa was divided into the independent nations of
Rwanda and Burundi.
(SFEC, 1/12/97,
p.A12)(http://africanscoutjamboree.org/en/history-of-burundi)
1972 The Tutsi-led government
in Burundi killed some 100,000 Hutus.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A14)(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.A19)
1987-1993 Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi paratrooper,
became the military president of Burundi.
(SFC, 8/26/96, p.A4)
1993 Jun, Melchior Ndadaye was
elected president in the first democratic election in Burundi.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)
1993 Oct 21, Burundi’s first
Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, was assassinated by Tutsi
soldiers. 5 soldiers were sentenced to death for the murder in 1999.
The military coup caused 525,000 Hutu's to flee. Civil war followed
and over the next dozen years some 300,000 people, mostly civilians,
were killed.
(SFC,8/22/96, p.E5)(WSJ, 11/15/96,
p.A16)(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.A12)(SFC, 5/15/99,
p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burundi_presidential_election,_1993)(Econ,
4/16/11, p.65)
1993 Pierre Buyoya paved the
way for Burundi elections and handed the presidency to Melchior
Ndadaye, a Hutu, elected by the Hutu majority.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A9)
1994 Apr 6, The presidents of
Rwanda and Burundi were killed on a return trip from Tanzania in a
mysterious plane crash near Kigali, Rwanda; widespread violence
erupted in Rwanda over claims the plane had been shot down: Agatha
Uwilingiyimana, Rwanda’s and Africa’s 1st female PM, Cyprian
Niayamira (Ntaryamira), president of Burundi (1993-94) and Juvenal
Habyarimana, president of Rwanda (1973) were killed along with the
French aircrew. In Rwanda the Interhamwe, an extremist organization,
and the Rwandan armed forces, FAR, launched a massacre of Tutsis and
sympathizers that killed some 800,000. [see Aug 1, 1997] A French
report in 2004 concluded that Paul Kagame, Tutsi rebel leader, was
behind the crash. In 2010 a Rwandan government-commissioned inquiry
said Rwandan Hutu soldiers shot down the Hutu president's plane and
sparked the slaughter of more than 500,000 people. In 2012 a French
judge determined that the missile fire that brought down the plane
and sparked the Rwanda genocide came from a military camp, and not
Tutsi rebels. This finding supported the theory that Habyarimana was
killed by extremist members of his own ethnic Hutu camp.
(WSJ, 11/15/96, p.A16)(SFC, 2/21/97, p.A26)(AP,
4/6/99)(SFC, 2/11/04, p.A8)(AP, 1/12/10)(AFP, 1/11/12)
1994 Pres. Sylvestre
Ntibantunganya took office in Burundi.
(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1994 Seven Rwandan refugee
camps were created in Burundi and held some 250,000 people.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)
1995 Feb, Prime Minister
Antoine Nduwayo took office in Burundi.
(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1996 Jan, The Burundi
president warned that the country may be on the brink of a possible
collapse due to fighting between the ethnic fanatics in the Hutu
majority and the Tutsi-dominated army.
(WSJ, 1/3/96, p.A-1)
1996 Jan, Tutsi militants
closed down the Burundi capital in a general strike. They accused
the president of backing massacres by Hutus after the killing of a
predecessor in 1993.
(WSJ, 1/17/96, p.A-1)
1996 Apr, The Red Cross said
more than 55,000 people have been driven from their homes by ethnic
fighting that intensified last month. More than 100,000 have been
killed since 1993 in the conflict between majority Hutus and
minority Tutsis. The fighting occurred in the capital city of
Bujumbura. 235 civilians died when the Burundi army attacked
villages at Buhoro.
(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 5/5/96, p.T-8)(SFC,
5/13/96, p.C-12)
1996 May 3, A handwritten
account reached the Burundi capital that described the massacre of
375 people at the Kivyuka village market by government soldiers
angry over recent rebel attacks on local power line towers. An army
spokesman denied the charges.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-8)
1996 May 16, Sylvestre
Ntibantunganya, the Burundi’s Hutu president, has called his army
“paralyzed and useless” and given it a week to stop ethnic violence
between Tutsi armed forces and Hutu rebels.
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 30, Suspected Hutu
rebels of the Council for the Defense of Democracy killed at least
61 and wounded 25 Tutsis in eastern Burundi.
(SFC, 5/31/96, A16)
1996 Jun 4, In Burundi 3 Swiss
Red Cross workers were ambushed and killed while delivering supplies
near the village of Mugina. The Tutsi-dominated Uprona Party denied
any role and said the killings were the work of gangs of the
Coalition for the Defense of Democracy, the main Hutu rebel group.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C16)(SFC, 6/6/96, p.C3)
1996 Jun 13, A Burundi army
report claimed that 50 Hutu rebels were killed in an attack on a
training camp.
(SFC, 6/14/96, p. A16)
1996 Jul 4, Unidentified gunmen
killed 80 people in an attack on a tea factory 15 miles northeast of
Bujumbura, Burundi.
(WSJ, 7/5/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 21, In Burundi Hutu
rebels killed 320 Tutsis, mostly women and children, at a refugee
camp 45 miles north of the capital.
(WSJ, 7/22/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 25, In Burundi the
military seized power and named former president Pierre Buyoya, a
Tutsi, as president. Hutu officials sought refuge in foreign
embassies. Burundian Hutus fled to Zaire's South Kivu province, base
of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy, an extremist
Burundi Hutu movement backed by Zaire.
(WSJ, 7/26/96, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/15/96, p.A16)
1996 Jul 26, UN sources said
that 268 Hutu civilians were killed in Burundi’s Gitega province.
The Tutsi army said Hutu rebels attacked a coffee factory in Giheta.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A8)
1996 Jul 27, In Burundi a
Tutsi-led army killed at least 30 Hutu rebels in retaliation for an
attack on a coffee plantation. Independent sources said that Hutus
set fire to the factory and rice plantation in Giheta to justify a
retaliatory attack on villages where Hutu rebels were thought to
have taken refugees. Villagers said Tutsi soldiers massacred about
1,000 Hutus as they roamed from village to village in Gitega
province.
(WSJ, 7/30/96, p.A1)(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A8)
1996 Aug 13, The last 2
commercial flights left Burundi as the outside world tightened
sanctions to punish the new military regime.
(SFC, 8/14/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 20, In Burundi Pierre
Buyoya sacked his army chief, Jean Bikomagu, who was implicated in
the 1993 assassination of the first Hutu president Melchior Ndadaye.
He also fired 2 more powerful military officers.
(WSJ, 8/21/96, p.A1)(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A9)(SFC,
8/22/96, p.E5)
1996 Aug 27, The last Rwandan
refugee camp in Burundi closed.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug, After the Burundi
coup of Jul 25, former Tanzanian Pres. Julius Nyerere led East
African leaders to impose sanctions on Burundi and force Buyoya to
restore democratic rule.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A9)
1996 Sep 3, Hutu guerrillas
attacked an army garrison and local government headquarters in
northern Burundi.
(SFC, 4/9/96, A10)
1996 Oct 21, In Murambi
village, Burundi, some 300 (258-435) Hutu refugees returned from
Zaire and were killed as they sought refuge in a village church.
(SFC, 11/23/96, p.A8)(SFC, 12/12/96, p.C2)
1997 Jan 5, In Burundi the
Tutsi-led army attacked and killed hundreds of Hutus in a dispute
over land at Bukeye in central Burundi.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A10)
1997 Jan 11, Soldiers shot and
killed 126 Burundian Hutu refugees trying to break out of a holding
camp in the northeast. Seven soldiers were arrested for the
slayings.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.A12)
1997 Feb 21, It was reported
that Burundi troops killed more than 150 civilians in reprisals for
rebel attacks. 100 people were killed at Mugara and fifty near
Maramvya.
(SFC, 2/22/96, p.A12)
1997 Apr 16, African leaders of
7 nations eased their embargo on Burundi to alleviate local
suffering.
(SFC, 4/16/97, p.A12)
1997 May 13, An outbreak of
Typhus was reported in Burundi. Some 20,000 cases in 3 northwest
provinces were reported by March, mostly in Hutu regroupment camps
set up by the Tutsi-led military.
(WSJ, 5/13/97, p.A1)
1997 May 29, It was reported
that the Tutsi-led army killed more than 40 Hutu rebels that
included Hutu students kicked out of Bujumburu Univ. in 1995.
(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 1, A UN report from
this day was made public in 2000 and cited Tutsi informants claiming
that they helped to shoot down the airplane carrying Rwandan Pres.
Juvanal Habyarimana on Apr 6, 1994.
(SFC, 3/2/00, p.A14)
1997 Oct 20, Soldiers of the
Tutsi army packed 40 civilians into a rural school in the region of
Kibezi and tossed a grenade inside. All were killed. Major Andre
Nijongabo, a Burundi army commander, defended the incident claiming
that the dead were “genocidal terrorists.” Hutu rebels had burned 18
schools a week ago.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A11)
1997 Marie-Louise Sibazuri
launched her Burundi radio drama "Our Neighbors Are Our Family." In
1998 she moved to Belgium and directed the program from there.
(WSJ, 3/16/00, p.A1)
1998 Jan 1, Some 1-2 thousand
Hutu rebels attacked a Burundi military base and near the main
airport and 150 civilians, 30 rebels and 2 soldiers were reported
killed. Later reports said as many as 300 were killed and that the
army had sealed up the area.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.A1)(SFC, 1/2/98, p.A14)(SFC,
1/3/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 12, In Burundi Hutu
rebels attacked army positions and at least 55 people were killed.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A1)
1988 Jan 21, In Burundi Hutu
rebels killed 45 people in 2 attacks, and 20 rebels died in a
subsequent battle with the army.
(WSJ, 1/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 28, Burundi Colonel
Firmin Sinzoyiheba, the Tutsi minister of defense, was killed in a
helicopter crash in the Gihinga Hills.
(SFC, 1/29/98, p.A11)
1998 Burundi military leader
Pierre Buyoya was sworn in as president by the democratically
elected parliament.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 28, In Burundi 34
people were killed south of the capital.
(SFC, 10/29/98, p.A14)
1999 Jan 19, Rebels based in
Tanzania killed 59 civilians in Makamba, Burundi. In Muresi Hill 76
civilians were killed.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1999 Jan 28, In Burundi
officials reported that at least 178 civilians had been killed over
the last 2 weeks in clashes between rebels and government troops.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1999 May 14, In Burundi 5
soldiers were sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Pres.
Melchior Ndadaye.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)
1999 Jul 16, In Burundi peace
talks ended in a deadlock.
(SFC, 7/17/99, p.A14)
1999 Jul, Burundi government
troops began herding Hutu farmers around Bujumburu into 58 makeshift
camps to deprive rebels of support. Cholera, dysentery and
malnutrition soon became rife in the camps.
(SFC, 1/3/00, p.A9)
1999 Aug 29, In Burundi Hutu
militiamen attacked 2 neighborhoods outside Bujumbura and killed at
least 26 civilians.
(SFC, 8/30/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 31, It was reported
that Bryan Rich of America and Alexis Sinduhije of Burundi, founders
of the country's first independent news outlet, were making a
documentary called "Breaking the Code," featuring interviews with
Hutu and Tutsi participants in the 1993 slaughter.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 24, In Burundi the
government reported that Hutu rebels had hacked to death 11
civilians in 2 separate attacks.
(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 26, In Nyambuye,
Burundi, 30 people were killed in a Catholic church. Unidentified
men in uniform opened fire while mostly Hutu worshipers prayed.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.C14)
1999 Sep 28, It was reported
that the Burundi army has recently forced over 200,000 villagers
into makeshift camps without food or water and that 100 people had
died over the past week.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.C14)
1999 Oct 12, In Burundi Hutu
rebels attacked a UN humanitarian convoy and killed 9 people at the
Muzye refugee camp in Rutana.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.A10)
1999 Nov 22, In Tanzania it was
reported that some 500 people per day were fleeing into the country
from Burundi as fighting in Burundi intensified.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec 1, African leaders
chose Nelson Mandela as the new mediator for talks on ending the
6-year civil war in Burundi.
(SFC, 12/2/99, p.D2)
1999 Dec 20, In Burundi Gabriel
Gisabwamana, a Hutu member of parliament, was shot and killed by
soldiers at a checkpoint after the 10 p.m. curfew.
(SFC, 12/22/99, p.C11)
1999 Dec 31, Burundian soldiers
killed at least 43 people including children in the Kabezi commune
in Bujumbura Rural province.
(SFC, 1/800, p.A10)
2000 Jan 16, Nelson Mandela
addressed peace talks in Arusha, Tanzania, and admonished the
leaders of Burundi for having failed their people and all of Africa.
(SFC, 1/20/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 21, In Tanzania
African presidents and European ministers appealed to Burundi's
leaders to negotiate a swift end to the civil war.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A9)
2000 Mar 3, In Burundi the
authorities under int'l. pressure began dismantling 6 of nearly 60
camps holding hundreds of thousands of Hutu civilians.
(SFC, 3/4/00, p.C1)
2000 Apr 25, In Burundi 66
people were reported killed in renewed fighting between Hutu rebels
and government troops.
(SFC, 4/26/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 7, Burundi Pres.
Pierre Buyoya made concessions to end the 7-year war. He agreed to
integrate the Tutsi-led army and to close down the regroupment camps
by July 31.
(SFC, 6/8/00, p.C3)
2000 Jul 22, In Burundi
uniformed men killed 53 men, women and children in the village of
Butaganzwa, when they refused to go to a government regroupment
camp.
(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A10)
2000 Aug 6, In Burundi Hutu
rebels ambushed a truck carrying military cadets and 28 soldiers and
6 civilians were killed near Nyabiraba village.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 28, Pres. Clinton
stopped in Burundi where Tutsi minority parties refused to sign a
deal with the Hutu majority. Clinton urged the parties to work for
peace.
(SFC, 8/29/00, p.A6)
2000 Dec 28, Hutu rebels
ambushed a commuter bus outside Bujumbura and killed 20 passengers.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A10)
2001 Apr 9, In Burundi
villagers were caught in crossfire fighting between the army and
Hutu rebels. 11-30 people were killed and thousands were forced to
flee their homes.
(SFC, 4/12/01, p.C2)
2001 Apr 18, The Burundi army
put down a coup attempt by junior officers opposed to Pres. Buyoya’s
negotiations with Hutu rebels.
(SFC, 4/19/01, p.A11)
2001 Jun 3, It was reported the
Burundi was poised for war due to conflicts between the Hutu
majority and Tutsi minority.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A16)
2001 Jul 23, In Burundi Pres.
Buyoya survived a coup attempt by Tutsi soldiers and sealed a
power-sharing accord with Hutu politicians. The Arusha accord called
for Buyoya to lead for 18 months followed by a Hutu president for
another 18 months with elections to follow.
(WSJ, 7/24/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/24/01, p.A6)
2001 Sep 28, It was reported
that clashed in Burundi between government forces and Hutu rebels
had killed at least 19 civilians and 22 soldiers over the last week.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct, Some 150 political
exiles returned to participate in the 3-year transition to
democracy. Some 700 South African soldiers massed in Bujumburu to
help protect the exiles.
(SFC, 11/1/01, p.C7)
2001 Nov 6, In Munini, Burundi,
24 civilians were reported dead from fighting between Hutu rebels
and the Tutsi dominated army.
(SFC, 11/7/01, p.A16)
2001 Nov 9, Hutu rebels in
Burundi abducted 80 teenage boys and 4 teachers from 3 schools in
Ruyigi. Forced recruitment was believed to be the reason. Hundreds
of youths escaped and at least 3 were left dead.
(WSJ, 11/8/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 7, Int’l. donors
promised Burundi over $760 million for reconstruction and to fight
AIDS. About 11.3% of the population was infected with HIV.
(SFC, 12/8/01, p.A7)
2001 Dec 25, Burundi Maj. Gen.
Gahiro reported that 515 Hutu rebels and 28 soldiers had been killed
in the Tenga region since Nov 26. He said fighting the area was
liberated but that fighting continued.
(SFC, 12/26/01, p.A8)
2002 Jan 15, Fighting began in
Burundi between the army and Hutu rebels. At least 60 people were
dead after a week.
(SFC, 1/26/02, p.A8)
2002 Mar 19, In Burundi
fighting between the Tutsi dominated army and Hutu rebels forced
over 16,000 people from their homes over the last 2 days.
(SFC, 3/20/02, p.A10)
2002 Jun 4, National Liberation
Forces rebels, one of 2 rebel Hutu groups, attacked military
positions near Bujumburu and caused thousands of people to flee the
area.
(SFC, 6/5/02, p.A13)
2002 Jun 11, More than 40
Burundian refugees returning home from Tanzania after years in exile
died when the truck carrying them overturned, an official said.
(AP, 6/12/02)
2002 Jun 21, In Burundi a court
has sentenced 11 people to death and 16 others to life imprisonment
for taking part in massacres that followed the 1993 assassination of
Burundi's first democratically elected leader.
(AP, 6/21/02)
2002 Jun 27, Burundian rebels
said they had repelled a major government offensive against bases in
the Kibera National Park, saying 35 government soldiers had been
killed in five day of fighting.
(AP, 6/27/02)
2002 Jul 26, The Burundian army
claimed it has killed at least 500 Hutu rebels during fighting over
the last two weeks, while suffering only 15 losses.
(AP, 7/26/02)
2002 Aug 30, In Burundi the
army reportedly killed 48 Hutu rebels in clashes outside Bujumbura.
(SFC, 9/5/02, p.A11)
2002 Sep 9, In Burundi 183
civilians were killed by uniformed men in an area of heavy fighting
between government troops and rebels. On Sep 18 the government
promised an investigation.
(AP, 9/18/02)
2002 Oct 7, In Burundi 2
smaller factions of the main rebel movements signed a cease-fire
aimed at ending the 9-year civil war.
(AP, 10/8/02)
2002 Nov 2, In Burundi at least
15,000 people have fled their homes as fighting between the army and
rebels escalated despite peace talks.
(AP, 11/2/02)
2002 Nov 22, Burundi's largest
rebel faction launched a mortar attack on Bujumbura from the
surrounding hills, causing thousands of residents to flee their
homes in the northern part of the city.
(AP, 11/22/02)
2002 Dec 3, In Burundi Pres.
Pierre Buyoya and Pierre Nkurunziza, leader of the main faction of
the Forces for the Defense of Democracy, or FDD, agreed to a
cease-fire in their 9-year civil war (effective Dec 30), in theory
leaving only one rebel group fighting in a conflict that has killed
more than 200,000 people.
(AP, 12/3/02)
2003 Jan 15, In Burundi 2 weeks
of fighting between the Tutsi-dominated army and two rebel groups
has displaced more than 30,000 people in two provinces.
(AP, 1/15/03)
2003 Mar 22, Burundi's hardline
Hutu rebel group expressed satisfaction with its first round of
peace talks in Switzerland.
(AP, 3/22/03)
2003 Mar 26, The Burundian army
attacked a rebel stronghold in a Kibira forest with mortars and
artillery, killing 68 insurgents. Rebels said only 2 fighters were
killed.
(AP, 3/27/03)
2003 Apr 2, Burundi said
Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa will send 3,500 peacekeepers
to enforce a truce ending nearly 10 years of civil war.
(AP, 4/2/03)
2003 Apr 8, In Burundi battles
started between the Tutsi-dominated army and the rebel Forces for
the Defense of Democracy, or FDD, after the army tried to intercept
insurgents moving into Gitega province. More than 6,000 people fled
their homes in response.
(AP, 4/12/03)
2003 Apr 19, In Burundi a
mortar shell apparently fired from rebel positions in the hills
northwest of Bujumbura crashed into a house, killing three children
and wounding a woman and another child. The latest fighting has
forced 50,000 people to flee their homes.
(AP, 4/19/03)
2003 Apr 30, Burundi's Tutsi
minority handed over the presidency to Domitien Ndayizeye of the
Hutu majority as part of the peace process aimed at ending 9 1/2
years of civil war.
(AP, 4/30/03)
2003 May 11, The Burundi army
killed 23 Hutu rebels during fighting in central Burundi, but the
insurgents claimed the dead were civilians.
(AP, 5/13/03)
2003 Jul 8, In Burundi Hutu
rebels fought their way into part of the capital, trading gun,
mortar and grenade fire with the Tutsi-dominated army. Thousands
fled their homes.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 10, In Burundi recent
fighting left an estimated 170 people killed according to a UN
estimate. 6,000 to 7,000 others had been forced to flee their homes.
(AP, 7/12/03)
2003 Sep 21, The latest
outbreak of fighting between Hutu rebels and the army in Burundi's
decade-long civil war has killed at least 12 people on the outskirts
of Bujumbura.
(AP, 9/23/03)
2003 Oct 27, In Burundi
fighting between government soldiers and Hutu rebels has forced more
than 5,000 people to flee their homes in the hills surrounding the
capital of Bujumbura.
(AP, 10/28/03)
2003 Nov 2, Burundi's president
and main rebel leader signed a peace agreement, but efforts to end
the decade-long civil war were threatened by renewed fighting
between Tutsi-dominated government troops and other Hutu rebels.
(AP, 11/2/03)
2003 Nov 3, It was reported
from Burundi that a decade of civil war as well as fighting in
neighboring Congo had decimated the once 300-strong herd of hippos
whose habitat is the marshy Ruzizi River that flows from the
northern end of Lake Tanganyika. In August, the World Wildlife Fund
warned that 185 miles to the north, only 1,300 hippos of the 29,000
recorded 30 years ago remained in and around Lake Edward.
(AP, 11/3/03)
2003 Nov 10, In Burundi Hutu
rebels bombarded the capital with rockets, killing 5 people,
destroying part of the Chinese Embassy and striking the home of a
U.S. military attache.
(AP, 11/10/03)
2003 Nov 16, Burundi's
government signed a comprehensive power-sharing plan with the Hutu
FDD, country's largest rebel group, a major step toward ending a
10-year war that has killed at least 200,000 people.
(AP, 11/16/03)(Econ, 8/14/04, p.44)
2003 Nov 19, Rebel holdouts in
Burundi clashed with government troops in a capital slum, killing 11
people, mainly noncombatants caught in the crossfire.
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Dec 22, An international
human rights group criticized a peace agreement giving soldiers and
rebels temporary immunity from prosecution for atrocities committed
against civilians in Burundi's 10-year civil war.
(AP, 12/22/03)
2003 Dec 29, In Burundi gunmen
killed Monsignor Michael Courtney, the pope's ambassador, firing on
his car as he was returning from a funeral.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2003 Dec, In Burundi the Forces
for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), the biggest Hutu rebel group,
joined Burundi's transitional government. FNL rebels under Agathon
Rwasa (39) continued to lob mortar shells into Bujumbura.
(Econ, 12/6/03, p.41)
2004 Jan 12, In Burundi Hutu
rebels killed 17 people, including five soldiers, in attacks
northwest of Bujumbura over the last 2 days.
(AP, 1/13/04)
2004 Feb 24, An earthquake
shook Burundi, killing three people and destroying at least two
dozen homes.
(AP, 2/24/04)
2004 Aug 13, The FNL, a
Burundian Hutu rebel faction, raided Gatumba camp, a UN refugee camp
in western Burundi, shooting and hacking to death 160 people. The
camp sheltered Congolese ethnic Tutsi refugees, known as the
Banyamulenge.
(AP, 8/14/04)(Econ, 8/21/04, p.37)(Econ, 9/11/04,
p.44)
2004 Nov 18, The UN Security
Council opened an extraordinary two-day session in Nairobi, the
first outside its New York headquarters in 14 years. Sudan topped
the agenda. Great Lakes regional foreign ministers approved a pact
for greater cross-border cooperation and confidence-building. It was
due to be adopted at a summit in Dar es Salaam.
(AP, 11/18/04)(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan urged leaders of Africa's blood-soaked Great
Lakes region to implement a peace plan that could herald a "new era"
for millions of Africans.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Burundi created a national
army out of former army and seven former rebel movements.
(AFP, 10/22/11)
2005 Feb 28, Burundians voted
on a new constitution that enshrines Hutu control by allotting them
60% of parliamentary seats with 40% for Tutsis.
(WSJ, 3/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 13, Burundi began
forced repatriation of thousands of Rwandan refugees, who feared
reprisals at home. The UN condemned the action.
(WSJ, 6/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 4, Burundi's main Hutu
ex-rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), won a
comfortable victory in legislative elections, taking 58.23% of the
vote.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Aug 19, Pierre Nkurunziza
(40), a former Hutu rebel leader, was chosen by lawmakers as
Burundi's president, culminating an internationally mediated effort
that hopes to bring peace to a central African nation wrecked by a
dozen years of ethnic war.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Sep 19, Classrooms and
chairs were scarce at crowded Burundian primary schools as 500,000
children, nearly double last year's enrollment, showed up for the
first day of classes following the elimination of fees.
(AP, 9/19/05)
2005 Dec 31, A first group of
UN peacekeepers from Mozambique left Burundi as part of a phased
withdrawal of troops that will end in December next year.
(AFP, 12/31/05)
2006 Jan 1, East African
leaders said that millions of people in the region faced hunger
because poor rains had affected vital crops and pasture. Burundi,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania faced acute food shortages.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2006 Jan 5, The UN said around
2,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees have arrived in Burundi in the past
month, many saying they feel insecure in Rwanda or are being refused
permission to cultivate their land.
(AP, 1/6/06)
2006 Feb 27, In Burundi a
government official acknowledged that rogue soldiers and police
officers have executed and tortured suspected rebels and civilians.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2006 May 29, Burundi's only
hold-out rebel group began talks with the government in an effort to
end the central African country's 12-year civil war.
(AP, 5/29/06)
2006 Jun 17, Burundi's
President Pierre Nkurunziza left to sign a cease-fire agreement with
the country's last rebel group in neighboring Tanzania as his
government works toward ending a 12-year conflict.
(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 18, Burundi's
government and the country's last rebel group agreed, while meeting
in Tanzania, to end hostilities and sign a comprehensive cease-fire
deal in two weeks.
(AP, 6/19/06)
2006 Jun 30, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to conclude its peacekeeping mission in
Burundi on Dec. 31 and replace it with a UN office to help promote
development and democracy in the central African nation.
(AP, 6/30/06)
2006 Aug 6, In Burundi gunmen
hurled a grenade at a bar frequented by army officers, killing four
people. Authorities said the attack was an attempt to undermine the
government.
(AP, 8/7/06)
2006 Aug 21, Burundi police
arrested former President Domitien Ndayizeye, apparently in
connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the tiny central
African country's government.
(Reuters, 8/21/06)
2006 Sep 5, Burundi
Vice-President Alice Nzomukunda resigned over corruption and human
rights abuses that she says are hampering her nation's progress.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5316690.stm)
2006 Sep 7, Burundi's
government and the country's last rebel group, the National
Liberation Forces (FNL) signed a permanent cease-fire as the central
African nation emerges from 12 years of civil war.
(AP, 9/7/06)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.57)
2006 Oct 17, The United States
said it plans to take in about 10,000 Burundian refugees from
Tanzania, many of whom fled their landlocked nation as far back as
1972.
(Reuters, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 25, A rights group
said Burundi's spy agency has executed 38 people and arbitrarily
detained 200 others since the Central African nation's new
government came to power. New York-based Human Rights Watch accused
President Pierre Nkurunziza’s year-old government of failing to
prosecute those accused of extra-judicial killings.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Nov 30, The East African
Community (EAC) said Rwanda and Burundi have been accepted as
members, expanding the regional economic bloc to five nations. The
EAC previously grouped Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, which hoped to
transform the region into a political federation.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 15, In Kenya 11
African heads of state attending the 2nd International Conference on
the Great Lakes Region signed a landmark $2 billion
(1.5-billion-euro) security and development pact to forestall fresh
violence in the area.
(AFP, 12/15/06)
2007 Jan 20, The UN’s food
agency said some 800,000 Burundians face a serious food crisis after
devastating floods ravaged several regions of the tiny central
African nation.
(AP, 1/20/07)
2007 Feb 26, The World Vision
humanitarian group said that more than 50% of children in refugee
camps around Africa's volatile Great Lakes area have experienced
some form of sexual abuse. The data, collected in camps in the
Burundi, Congo (DRC), Tanzania, northern Uganda and Rwanda, said
widespread poverty made children vulnerable to abuses.
(AFP, 2/27/07)
2007 Feb 28, Burundi said that
it will send 1,700 peacekeepers to Somalia as part of an
8,000-strong African Union force, while the first Ugandan contingent
prepared to leave for the war-torn nation.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Mar 15, Human Rights Watch
released a report that said Children in Burundi suffer serious
abuses in prison, including torture, rape and food shortages, in a
criminal justice system that treats them as adults.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 18, The UN said a
first group of Congolese refugees, who escaped a 2004 massacre at a
camp in Burundi, left for the US to start a program to resettle more
than 500 people.
(AFP, 3/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Burundi, Rwanda,
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda adopted a joint military
strategy to fight rebel groups operating in the war-scarred Great
Lakes region.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 May 18, A group of 88
Burundians who have lived as refugees in neighboring Tanzania for up
to 35 years became the first of some 8,500 to head to the US for a
new life.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 23, The UN human
rights commissioner said that Burundi has agreed to set up a
tribunal to try people suspected of genocide and war crimes during
its 12-year civil war.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 25, In Burundi 61
countries and international organizations promised 656 million
dollars (488 million euros) during a donors' roundtable in the
capital Bujumbura. The World Bank considers Burundi, where 70% of
the population lives below the poverty line, the world's
third-poorest nation.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 Jun 19, President Jakaya
Kikwete said Tanzania will shut camps housing 150,000 refugees from
Burundi by the end of this year as the war in the neighbouring
central African country is over.
(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jul 21, Jean Berchmans
Ndayshimiye, the military leader of Burundi's last rebel group
(FNL), escaped back to the bush, sparking fears of renewed civil
conflict.
(AFP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul, Rwanda and Burundi
became members of the East African Community (EAC), which included
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/17/07)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
2007 Aug 19, Simultaneous
grenade attacks were launched on the homes of five Burundian
politicians who recently criticized the president, injuring three
but failing to harm the targets.
(AFP, 8/19/07)
2007 Aug 28, Africa's Great
Lakes nations (Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and
Uganda) vowed to eliminate rebel groups roaming their territory and
spurring insecurity in the continent's most volatile region.
(AFP, 8/28/07)
2007 Sep 11, Six Congolese
soldiers were detained by the Burundian navy for repeatedly
attacking fishing boats on Lake Tanganyika and stealing their catch.
(AFP, 9/12/07)
2007 Oct 16,
Burundi's last active rebel group said it will shun a weekend
meeting to put the central African nation's derailed peace process
back on track as the South African mediator was biased.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Oct 20,
Burundi's last active rebel group was urged to implement a
2006 ceasefire as it boycotted a meeting aimed to put the central
African nation's derailed peace process back on track.
(AFP, 10/20/07)
2007 Nov 14, Burundi's
President Pierre Nkurunziza announced a new unity cabinet drawing
members from two leading opposition groups in a bid to end months of
political deadlock in the troubled African nation.
(AFP, 11/15/07)
2007 Nov 14, The EU reached an
accord with the East African Community (EAC) states of Burundi,
Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. They will enjoy duty free, quota
free access to the EU for all products, except sugar and rice, from
January 1. Originally established in 1967, the EAC collapsed a
decade later amid diverging economic philosophies. It was
resurrected in 2000 as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda agreed to create
an EU-style common market for their 90 million citizens. Rwanda and
Burundi became members in July this year.
(AP, 11/17/07)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
2007 Dec 23, In Somalia a first
contingent of 100 Burundian peacekeepers deployed in the capital,
joining 1,800 Ugandan troops in an African Union force, AMISOM, that
is still well short of the personnel strength needed to help restore
order. Insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault
rifles attacked an Ethiopian army base in northern Mogadishu,
triggering a deadly nighttime clash that sent stray mortar rounds
crashing into homes. At least five Somalis were killed and eight
wounded in the crossfire.
(AP, 12/23/07)(AFP, 10/22/11)
2007 Dec 24, In southwestern
Somalia gunmen threw grenades at the home of the regional police
chief, killing two of his grandchildren and a bodyguard but not
their target. Burundi deployed a 2nd contingent of 92 peacekeepers
to Mogadishu, to bolster an African Union force.
(AP, 12/24/07)(AP, 12/25/07)
2008 Jan 20, The final 210
members of the first battalion of Burundian soldiers to be deployed
in Somalia as part of an African Union peace-keeping force left
Bujumbura for Mogadishu. Burundi is expected to deploy a total of
1,700 soldiers in Somalia, alongside around 1,600 troops from Uganda
who have been in the capital Mogadishu since March.
(AFP, 1/20/08)
2008 Mar 14, Five Burundi
insurgents and a government soldier were killed in a clash with the
army in the north of the war-wracked central African country's
capital.
(AFP, 3/14/08)
2008 Mar 18, The World Food
Program (WFP) made a six million dollar appeal to feed some 90,000
Burundian refugees in Tanzania who expect to return to the central
African country in 2008.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Apr 17, In Burundi
suspected rebels attacked the capital, Bujumbura. A series of
attacks killed at least 17 people.
(AP, 4/18/08)(WSJ, 4/19/08, p.A1)
2008 May 18, In Burundi as the
government and rebels sought unsuccessfully to reach agreement in
negotiations to reinstate a 2006 ceasefire deal, the army attacked
National Liberation Forces (FNL) rebel positions south of Bujumbura.
(AFP, 5/20/08)
2008 May 25, Burundian
officials said the army killed three rebels near the capital over
the weekend, the latest in a series of violent clashes in the
central African nation.
(AFP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 26, Burundi's
government and last active rebel group signed an unconditional
ceasefire agreement, raising hopes of a definitive end to the small
central African nation's 15-year civil war.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 30, Agathon Rwasa, the
exiled leader of Burundi's last rebel group, returned to the capital
to begin implementing a stalled deal seen as the final obstacle to
peace in the tiny central African country.
(Reuters, 5/30/08)
2008 Jun 8, Burundi's top rebel
leader and the government's chief negotiator pledged to work to end
15 years of civil war as they arrived in South Africa for talks on
the country's peace process.
(AP, 6/8/08)
2008 Jul 16, The United States
signed a pair of agreements to boost trade and investment ties with
countries in southern and eastern Africa. These included the Trade,
Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement with the Southern
Africa Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Lesotho,
Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland; and the Trade Investment and
Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the East African Community, which
includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Oct 14, Burundi said it
has completed its deployment of another 850 soldiers to Somalia,
bringing to about 3,400 the total number of African Union
peacekeepers stationed there. Burundi had already deployed some 850
soldiers to Somalia as part of AMISOM (African mission in Somalia).
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 16, Around one million
Burundian children under the age of five suffer chronic
malnutrition, the UN food agency announced as it marked World Food
Day in the tiny central African nation.
(AP, 10/16/08)
2008 Nov 17, In Somalia
witnesses said African Union (AU) peacekeepers from Burundi have
started moving into positions usually manned by Ethiopian troops in
the capital Mogadishu, as part of the ongoing Djibouti peace
process.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 22, Burundi's
parliament adopted a new set of laws abolishing the death penalty
for the first time in the troubled central African country.
(AP, 11/22/08)
2008 Dec 2, A Burundi soldier
serving with African Union forces in Somalia was killed in fighting
with Islamist insurgents in the war-torn capital Mogadishu.
(AFP, 12/3/08)
2008 Dec 4, In Burundi a summit
was held in Bujumbura stating the position of the Great Lakes region
on the implementation of the peace agreements signed at the Dar es
Salaam summit of 2006 in Tanzania.
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200812040216.html)
2009 Jan 2, In Burundi an
8-year-old albino boy was hacked to death in front of his mother and
made off with his arms and legs. The body parts of a single albino,
to be used in witch doctor potions, fetched about $1000. This attack
followed another on a 6-year-old girl.
(Econ, 1/17/09, p.50)
2009 Mar 13, In Burundi an
albino man was murdered and dismembered overnight by suspected
smugglers with links to Tanzanian witch doctors, the fourth such
case in a month in the central African nation.
(AFP, 3/13/09)
2009 Jul 24, Burundi army
officials said 3 of its soldiers serving with African Union
peacekeepers in Somalia have died of a mysterious illness in a
Kenyan hospital where more than 10 others are being treated.
(AFP, 7/24/09)
2009 Aug 1, Burundi said it has
deployed a third battalion of 850 soldiers to Mogadishu to reinforce
the African Union peacekeeping mission there. With the new troops,
more than 5,000 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda are now taking part
in the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which began in March 2007 and
has cost the lives of 17 Burundian soldiers.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Burundi 2 days
of clashes began as government forces fired live rounds in the air
to deter hundreds of Congolese refugees from returning home. Some
900 refugees had decided to return home on foot rather than be
transferred to a new camp further away from the border with
Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 23, Somali Islamist
rebels threatened to attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda, the
two central African countries that have deployed peacekeeping troops
to prop up Somali's transitional government.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Tanzania
members of the East Africa Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda) signed a common market agreement in Arusha,
headquarters of the EAC.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/21/content_12513712.htm)
2009 Nov 30, Interpol and the
Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3
months had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and
used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of
illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the
wildlife authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Dec 30, In Burundi the
last South African soldiers from the African Union Special Task
Force still operating in Burundi completed their mission and left
the country for good to return to South Africa.
(AFP, 12/31/09)
2010 Mar 4, In Rwanda 2 grenade
blasts wounded 16 people in the capital, in the second wave of
grenade attacks to hit Kigali in two weeks. On March 6 authorities
said Deo Mushayidi, a former member of the then rebel group Rwandan
Patriotic Front that ended the 1994 genocide, was arrested in
neighboring Burundi. The government has also accused two former
senior army officers now exiled in South Africa of being behind the
attacks.
(AP, 3/5/10)(AFP, 3/6/10)
2010 May 3, In Burundi
attackers chopped off the limbs of a 5-year-old albino boy and
pulled out his mother's eye, killing them over the belief that their
body parts would bring wealth and success. Ten assailants armed with
guns and grenades killed Desire Vyegura (5) and his mother, Susann
Vyegura. Thoma Vyegura, who was not albino, was also killed while
trying to protect his daughter and grandson.
(AP, 5/7/10)
2010 May 19, The Burundian
government said in a statement that it had given Neela Ghoshal, a
Human Rights Watch researcher, until June 5 to leave the country.
Burundi is due to hold its first round of elections after nearly 16
years of civil war May 23. Presidential polls are scheduled for June
28.
(AP, 5/21/10)
2010 May 24, Burundians turned
out in droves to vote in local polls marking the first phase of an
electoral marathon, the first of a series of polls in which the tiny
African nation will also vote for representatives to parliament and
its next president.
(AFP, 5/24/10)
2010 Jun 1, In Burundi 5
presidential candidates in upcoming elections said they're
withdrawing from the race because of rigged voting. The candidates
announced their withdrawal following a May 24 vote that opposition
parties said were rigged by the ruling party, which received 64
percent of votes. Four rounds of voting remain.
(AP, 6/1/10)
2010 Jun 4, Burundi's main
Tutsi party followed five opposition parties in pulling out from the
central African nation's June presidential poll, leaving serving
leader Pierre Nkurunziza as the sole candidate.
(AFP, 6/5/10)
2010 Jun 21, In Burundi the
president of the ruling party's youth league was assassinated by
unknown gunmen.
(AFP, 6/22/10)
2010 Jun 22, In Burundi 2
people were reported killed and several wounded overnight in the
latest spate of attacks to rock the East African nation amid a tense
electoral crisis.
(AFP, 6/22/10)
2010 Jun 27, Burundi's police
overnight arrested six senior officials from an opposition party, as
the troubled central African nation prepared for a controversial
presidential election.
(AFP, 6/27/10)
2010 Jun 28, Burundi began
voting for a president. Incumbent Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza was the
lone candidate.
(AP, 6/28/10)
2010 Jun 30, In Burundi
politicians boycotting the elections dismissed the results as a
sham.
(SFC, 7/1/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 2, It was reported
that grenade attacks in Burundi have killed 8 people and wounded
almost 50 over the last month.
(WSJ, 7/2/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 22, Burundi was
labeled as the most corrupt country in East Africa in a survey by
Transparency International. Rwanda was found to be the least corrupt
among the five countries in the region.
(AP, 7/22/10)
2010 Aug 26, Interpol said
police have seized about 10 metric tons of counterfeit medicines and
arrested 80 people in a sweep across eastern Africa. Authorities
across Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar took
part in the bust.
(Reuters, 8/26/10)
2010 Sep 24, Agathon Rwasa, a
former rebel chief in Burundi, appealed by letter to UN chief Ban
Ki-moon to intervene and prevent the east African nation from
falling again into violent conflict. Rwasa headed the ex-rebel
National Liberation Forces, which became a political party in 2009
after a peace deal ended Burundi's 13-year civil war.
(AFP, 9/24/10)
2010 Nov 19, In the Republic of
Congo 8 countries signed a convention to limit the spread of weapons
in central Africa, but three countries opted out. Angola, Cameroon,
the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Gabon, The Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe all
signed. Burundi, Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda did not sign.
(AFP, 11/20/10)
2010 Some 100,000 Twa pygmies
remained in the Great Lakes region of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and
CongoDRC. Most of them were barred from their ancestral forests
including the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, which was turned into a
national park in 1991.
(Econ, 9/25/10, SR p.11)
2010 Burundi’s population stood
at about 9 million. Tax revenues were around $9 million.
(Econ, 7/24/10, p.48)
2011 Mar 4, Two Nairobi-based
diplomats said at least 43 Burundian and 10 Ugandan troops have been
killed in Somalia since Feb. 18. A major offensive against Islamist
militants began on Feb 19.
(AP, 3/4/11)
2011 Mar 14, Burundi said it
has deployed an additional 1,000 soldiers for the African Union
force protecting the Somali government.
(AFP, 3/14/11)
2011 Jul 1, Burundi's President
Pierre Nkurunziza appealed for the first time to opposition leaders
in exile to return home and begin a dialogue, in a speech to mark
the country's independence.
(AFP, 7/2/11)
2011 Jul 4, In Burundi an armed
gang raided two police posts in Bujumbura and dropped leaflets
saying they were members of a rebel group called FRONABU-Tabara
(Burundi National Front). Four suspects were arrested.
(AFP, 7/6/11)
2011 Jul 15, In Burundi lawyer
Suzanne Bukuru was arrested and imprisoned for helping French
journalists get an interview with victims she is representing in a
rape trial involving a Frenchman Patrice Faye (58). On July 25
lawyers in Burundi announced a week-long strike in protest at the
arrest of Bukuru for "complicity in espionage.”
(AFP, 7/25/11)
2011 Jul 19, In Burundi at
least nine people died in clashes between unidentified "armed
gangsters" and security forces in northwest Cibitoke province. Two
soldiers, a police officer and six "gangsters" were among the dead.
(AFP, 7/20/11)
2011 Jul 25, A court in Burundi
found Frenchman Patrice Faye (58) guilty of raping five teenagers,
giving him a 25-year jail sentence and a fine of 14,000 euros
($20,000). Faye was accused of raping five girls aged 13 to 17,
students at a school he set up for poor children. He denied the
charges and said a doctor had confirmed that three of his accusers
were still virgins.
(AFP, 7/25/11)
2011 Aug 11, Burundi and South
Africa signed several cooperation deals including in defense,
education and agriculture during Pres. Zuma's visit to the central
African country.
(AFP, 8/11/11)
2011 Sep 2, In Somalia
Malaysian cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor was killed in Mogadishu by
4 Burundi peacekeepers. The 4 were later discharged from the force
and faced trial in Burundi.
(AP, 9/26/11)
2011 Sep 16, Burundi opposition
leader Agathon Rwasa, suspected to be behind a spate of violent
incidents, accused state security forces of massacring and torturing
his supporters.
(AFP, 9/16/11)
2011 Sep 18, In Burundi armed
men burst into a pub in Gatumba. One wounded man said an attacker
yelled: "Make sure there's no survivors." Survivor Jackson Kabura
said the men entered wearing military fatigues. The bar shooting
left 39 people dead. The accused later claimed the massacre's
"sponsors" were top security official General Maurice Mbonimpa,
deputy police chief General Gervais Ndirakobuca and the commander of
a special police unit, Colonel Desire Uwamahoro.
(AP, 9/19/11)(AFP, 9/23/11)(AFP, 12/13/11)(Econ,
3/10/12, p.60)
2011 Oct 20, In Somalia
pro-government forces supported by foreign troops chased al-Shabab
out of Mogadishu’s northernmost neighborhood, Deynile, in a dawn
offensive. Al-Qaida-linked militants claimed to have killed 70
foreign African Union peacekeepers but an eyewitness said many of
the bodies put on display were likely Somali government soldiers. An
AU spokesman the next day said that the insurgents had stolen
uniforms and dressed up scores of their own dead. The AU said 10
soldiers were killed, including 6 from Burundi, with two missing
after intense fighting with insurgents. A week later it was reported
that 51 Burundian soldiers were killed in the clash.
(AP, 10/20/11)(AP, 10/21/11)(AFP, 10/22/11)(AP,
10/28/11)
2011 Nov 21, Burundi security
forces shot dead 18 "armed bandits" in clashes in the eastern
province of Cankuzo, part of a new rebellion based in Ruvubu
National Park.
(AFP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 22, A Burundi rights
group, the Government Action Observatory (OAG), said
government-backed death squads have killed more than 300 members of
a former rebel group and opposition supporters in covert operations
over the past five months.
(AFP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 27, Gunmen in Burundi
murdered Sister Luckrecija Mamic, a Croatian nun, and an Italian
charity worker in an apparent botched robbery and kidnapping. Sister
Carla Brianza was later shot dead while Sister Carla Brianza, an
Italian nun, fought off her attackers and escaped with relatively
minor wounds. Two men, aged 20 and 24, were arrested for the attack
after a shootout.
(AFP, 11/28/11)
2011 Nov 28, Burundi told
delegates at a global anti-landmine summit in Phnom Penh that it had
cleared its territory of landmines, becoming the 18th state party to
do so. Myanmar was the only country recorded as laying new landmines
last year, but the Intl. Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said it
has since been joined by Israel, Syria and Libya, bringing the
current global use of landmines to its highest level since 2004.
(AP, 11/29/11)
2012 Jan 11, Alexis Sinduhije,
the head of Burundi’s opposition Movement for Solidarity and
Development, a former journalist, was arrested in Tanzania upon his
arrival there from Uganda. On Jan 21 Burundi admitted that it had
asked for the exiled Burundian opposition leader to be arrested in
Tanzania and extradited to face murder charges.
(AFP, 1/21/12)
2012 Jan 21, Burundi admitted
that it had asked for an exiled Burundian opposition leader to be
arrested in Tanzania and extradited to face murder charges. Alexis
Sinduhije, the head of the opposition Movement for Solidarity and
Development, a former journalist, was arrested in Tanzania's
economic capital Dar es Salaam on January 11 upon his arrival there
from Uganda.
(AFP, 1/21/12)
2012 Jan 24, Tanzanian police
freed Burundian opposition leader Alexis Sinduhije, who was arrested
two weeks ago in Dar es Salaam at Burundi's request. Sinduhije was
expelled to Uganda.
(AFP, 1/24/12)
2012 May 2, Burundi blocked
Human Rights Watch from holding a press conference to release a
report on the country's political violence, which it blamed on state
agents and armed opposition groups.
(AFP, 5/2/12)
2012 May 5, In Burundi an armed
gang kidnapped, killed and dismembered overnight an albino girl (15)
in Burundi's 18th such slaying in less than four years. Albinos Sans
Frontieres said the government was failing to protect albinos and
said everyone sentenced to prison in the killings had escaped.
(AFP, 5/6/12)
2012 Jun 20, A Burundian court
sentenced journalist Hassan Ruvakuki and 13 others to life in prison
on terrorism charges for a November attack launched from across the
Tanzanian border, a ruling criticized by media watchdogs.
(AFP, 6/20/12)
2012 Jun 27, Burundi President
Pierre Nkurunziza pardoned "several thousand" prisoners in order to
address prison overcrowding and celebrate the 50th anniversary of
independence on July 1. Eloge Niyonzima, a journalist for a private
radio station in Bubanza, was beaten up overnight by members of the
ruling party's youth wing militia.
(AFP, 6/27/12)
2012 Jul 24, Burundi's
anti-corruption court sentenced Faustin Ndikumana, an anti-graft
activist, to five years in jail for "false declarations." Ndikumana
was arrested February 7 after writing a letter in which he said
candidates for the post of judge in Burundi had to pay a bribe, and
that the justice minister was in part responsible for this state of
affairs.
(AFP, 7/24/12)
2012 Jul 26, The UN's food
agency said 10 Central African countries have agreed to take part in
a regional initiative to monitor the Congo Basin, one of the world's
largest primary rainforests. They included Burundi, Cameroon,
Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe.
(AFP, 7/26/12)
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End of file.