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)
1890Â Â Â Â Â Â A
conference in Brussels gave Rwanda and Burundi to the German Empire
as colonial spheres of interest in exchange for renouncing all
claims on Uganda.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Rwanda)
1901Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1913Â Â Â Â Â Â The MV Liemba, a 220-foot
steamer, began its life in a shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, where
it was named the Graf von Goetzen after German East Africa's former
governor. It was dismantled, packed into 5,000 numbered crates, and
shipped to Dar es Salaam and then taken by railway and porter to the
shore of Lake Tanganyika where it was reassembled in 1915, armed
with cannon, and put to work defending the waters against Belgian
and British soldiers. It was scuttled and then dredged up by the
Belgians but sank in a storm soon after. In 1921 Churchill ordered
it recovered. In 1924 it was fished up and renamed MV Liemba, after
the local name for the lake. It was put into service as a cargo and
passenger ferry in 1927. It later inspired C.S. Forester’s novel
"The African Queen” (1935).
   (AFP, 5/12/15)(Econ, 2/4/17, p.39)
1923Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1962Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â The Tutsi-led government
in Burundi killed some 100,000 Hutus.
   (SFC, 8/31/99, p.A14)(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.A19)
1977Â Â Â Â Â Â The East African Community
(EAC), founded in 1967, collapsed. In 2000 the regional club was
resurrected with six members: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan,
Tanzania and Uganda.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Community)(Econ,
6/11/16, p.51)
1987-1993Â Â Â Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi paratrooper,
became the military president of Burundi.
   (SFC, 8/26/96, p.A4)
1993Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun, Melchior Ndadaye was
elected president in the first democratic election in Burundi.
   (SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)
1993Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1993Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Pres. Sylvestre
Ntibantunganya took office in Burundi.
   (SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Seven Rwandan refugee
camps were created in Burundi and held some 250,000 people.
   (SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)
1995Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb, Prime Minister
Antoine Nduwayo took office in Burundi.
   (SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1996 Â Â Â Â Â Â 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 Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 27, The last Rwandan
refugee camp in Burundi closed.
   (SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 3, Hutu guerrillas
attacked an army garrison and local government headquarters in
northern Burundi.
   (SFC, 4/9/96, A10)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 16, African leaders of
7 nations eased their embargo on Burundi to alleviate local
suffering.
   (SFC, 4/16/97, p.A12)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â May 29, It was reported
that the Tutsi-led army killed more than 40 Hutu rebels that
included Hutu students kicked out of Bujumbura Univ. in 1995.
   (SFC, 5/29/97, p.A10)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 12, In Burundi Hutu
rebels attacked army positions and at least 55 people were killed.
   (WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A1)
1988Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Burundi military leader
Pierre Buyoya was sworn in as president by the democratically
elected parliament.
   (SFC, 6/12/98, p.A14)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 28, In Burundi 34
people were killed south of the capital.
   (SFC, 10/29/98, p.A14)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, In Burundi 5
soldiers were sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Pres.
Melchior Ndadaye.
   (SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 16, In Burundi peace
talks ended in a deadlock.
   (SFC, 7/17/99, p.A14)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul, Burundi government
troops began herding Hutu farmers around Bujumbura 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 29, In Burundi Hutu
militiamen attacked 2 neighborhoods outside Bujumbura and killed at
least 26 civilians.
   (SFC, 8/30/99, p.A14)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 31, Burundian soldiers
killed at least 43 people including children in the Kabezi commune
in Bujumbura Rural province.
   (SFC, 1/800, p.A10)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 25, In Burundi 66
people were reported killed in renewed fighting between Hutu rebels
and government troops.
   (SFC, 4/26/00, p.A16)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, The East African
Community (EAC), founded in 1967, was resurrected following its
collapse in 1977. The regional club included six members: Burundi,
Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. In 2005 members
agreed on a customs union and in 2010 they agreed on a common
market.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Community)(Econ,
6/11/16, p.51)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 28, Hutu rebels
ambushed a commuter bus outside Bujumbura and killed 20 passengers.
   (SFC, 12/30/00, p.A10)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, Some 150 political
exiles returned to participate in the 3-year transition to
democracy. Some 700 South African soldiers massed in Bujumbura to
help protect the exiles.
   (SFC, 11/1/01, p.C7)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 4, National Liberation
Forces rebels, one of 2 rebel Hutu groups, attacked military
positions near Bujumbura and caused thousands of people to flee the
area.
   (SFC, 6/5/02, p.A13)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 30, In Burundi the
army reportedly killed 48 Hutu rebels in clashes outside Bujumbura.
   (SFC, 9/5/02, p.A11)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, Burundi's hardline
Hutu rebel group expressed satisfaction with its first round of
peace talks in Switzerland.
   (AP, 3/22/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 24, An earthquake
shook Burundi, killing three people and destroying at least two
dozen homes.
   (AP, 2/24/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Burundi created a national
army out of former army and seven former rebel movements.
   (AFP, 10/22/11)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â 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. Burundi’s 12-year civil war left as many
as 300,000 people dead.
   (AP, 8/20/05)(Econ, 3/29/14, p.50)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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,  Â
 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,  Â
 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.
  Â
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/21/content_12513712.htm)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, In Burundi the
president of the ruling party's youth league was assassinated by
unknown gunmen.
   (AFP, 6/22/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 28, Burundi began
voting for a president. Incumbent Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza was the
lone candidate.
   (AP, 6/28/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 30, In Burundi
politicians boycotting the elections dismissed the results as a
sham.
   (SFC, 7/1/10, p.A2)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Burundi’s population stood
at about 9 million. Tax revenues were around $9 million.
   (Econ, 7/24/10, p.48)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.  Â
   (AP, 9/19/11)(AFP, 9/23/11)(AFP, 12/13/11)(Econ,
3/10/12, p.60)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, A UN official said
at least 25,000 Burundian refugees living in Tanzania have been
forcibly repatriated over the past month, describing a "dramatic"
humanitarian situation.
   (AFP, 9/12/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, Burundi opened an
investigation into claims that a former ethnic Hutu rebel leader
ordered the massacre of Congolese refugees in an attack almost a
decade ago. The Banyamulenge, an ethnic Tutsi tribe from neighboring
Democratic Republic of Congo, in August accused Agathon Rwasa of
ordering the killing of 166 Banyamulenge seeking refuge inside a
camp in Burundi in 2004.
   (Reuters, 9/13/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 10, Burundi officials
said police have discovered dozens of human skulls during a search
of the home of an Italian expatriate. Giuseppe Favaro, has been in
custody since late October after he was caught trying to export two
skulls to Thailand.
   (AFP, 11/10/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 30, Five east African
countries signed a protocol to establish a monetary union, in a
first step towards creating a single currency. At a summit in
Kampala, leaders from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda
inked the framework to set up a single market modelled after the
eurozone.
   (AFP, 11/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel ordered the US military to transport troops from Burundi
into the Central African Republic to help quell the latest upsurge
in violence there.
   (AP, 12/10/13)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 28, Burundi's top
lawyer, Isidore Rufyikiri, was sacked after criticizing the
government and being accused of urging the people to rebel.
   (AFP, 1/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 10, In Burundi at
least 60 people perished in flooding and landslides following a
night of torrential rain in Bujumbura that swept away hundreds of
homes and cut off roads and power.
   (AFP, 2/10/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 11, The Burundi Red
Cross said torrential rains and landslides have left at least 77
people dead and about 12,000 displaced.
   (Reuters, 2/11/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 8, In Burundi violent
clashes in Bujumbura pitted opposition Movement for Solidarity and
Development activists against police. 21 MSD activists were
arrested.
   (AFP, 3/16/14)(Econ, 3/29/14, p.50)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 10, A Burundian
official said South Africa has expelled a diplomat from Burundi's
embassy in connection with a raid on an exiled Rwandan general's
Johannesburg home and Burundi is considering a response.
   (Reuters, 3/10/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 12, Burundi charged
opposition leader Alexis Sinduhije, who is on the run from police,
and 71 party supporters with rebellion following March 8 clashes.
   (AFP, 3/16/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, Burundi sentenced
21 activists from a key opposition party to life in jail for "armed
revolt" after a jogging protest earlier this month turned into
violent clashes with police.
   (AFP, 3/21/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, Burundi’s ruling
CNDD-FDD party voted to create a reconciliation commission.
Opposition parties boycotted the vote saying it will shield the
ruling party from accountability for past crimes.
   (Reuters, 4/18/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, China signed a
deal with East African leaders to build a $3.8 billion rail link
between Kenya's Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and Nairobi, the first
stage of a line that will eventually link Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi
and South Sudan.
   (AFP, 5/11/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 2, African nations
agreed to suspend military operations for six months against
Congo-based Rwandan rebels in order to give them more time to lay
down their arms. The suspension was announced after a meeting in
Angola of foreign ministers from a regional bloc including Angola,
Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, DRC, Kenya,
Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
   (Reuters, 7/3/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul, On the Burundi-Rwanda
border corpses started coming with rotting bodies and bound limbs or
stuffed in sacks, floating on the glittering waters of Lake Rweru.
Fishermen report seeing as many as 40 bodies. In 2006 the bodies of
Burundian opponents murdered in political violence were thrown into
various rivers in the country.
   (AP, 9/19/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 8, The Italian foreign
ministry said 3 missionary nuns have been found slain in their
convent in Burundi.
   (SFC, 9/9/14, p.A2)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 20, Burundi's National
Intelligence Service detained Brice Nzohabonayo in the capital
Bujumbura shortly after his brother Bertrand Nzohabonayo attacked a
police station in Joue-les-Tours, France.
   (AFP, 12/22/14)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 1, In Burundi a group
of unidentified rebels crossed into the country overnight from
DRCongo's eastern Kivu region.
   (AfP, 1/4/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 4, A Burundi military
official said at least 105 rebels have been killed after a
cross-border attack from the Democratic Republic of Congo following
five days of non-stop military operations. Five gunmen dressed in
military fatigues burst into a bar and shot dead 3 ruling party
activists before torching the local party office in the eastern
Gisuru region.
   (AFP, 1/4/15)(AFP, 1/6/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, In Burundi some 150
journalists and civil rights activists demonstrated to demand the
release of a radio station boss accused of complicity in the murder
of three Italian nuns last September.
   (AFP, 2/3/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 12, Human Rights Watch
said Burundian troops executed at least 47 surrendered rebels last
month, part of a "broader pattern" of violence coming ahead of key
elections.
   (AFP, 2/12/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 19, In Burundi
thousands marched through the capital in one of the largest
demonstrations in recent years after the release of Bob Rugurika, a
popular journalist and government critic from jail, months ahead of
key elections.
   (AFP, 2/19/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, The United Nations
refugee agency said more than 5,800 Burundian refugees have crossed
into Rwanda so far this month amid fears of violence before
elections scheduled for June 26.
   (AP, 4/15/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, Burundi police
fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters calling for
the president not to run for a third term.
   (AFP, 4/17/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 18, Burundi charged 65
protestors with rebellion after they were arrested a day earlier
during clashes with police while calling for the president not to
seek re-election.
   (AFP, 4/19/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 24, Burundi's
government announced a nationwide ban on demonstrations following
threats by the opposition and activists to step up protests against
controversial plans by the president to seek re-election.
   (AFP, 4/24/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 25, Burundi's
president was declared as candidate for a controversial third term
in office.
   (AFP, 4/25/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 26, Burundian police
shot dead 2 protesters and wounded at least one other, in
demonstrations against the president seeking a third term.
   (Reuters, 4/26/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 27, Burundi
authorities arrested a leading dissident and shut down the main
independent radio station as they battled a second day of
demonstrations against a bid by the president to cling to power for
a third term. The Red Cross said at least 6 people have been killed
in the street clashes.
   (AFP, 4/27/15)(SFC, 4/28/15, p.A2)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 28, In Burundi police
fired tear gas and shot in the air to disperse hundreds of people
protesting in the outskirts of Bujumbura against President Pierre
Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term. The UN said more than
5,000 Burundians fled to Rwanda over the weekend.
   (Reuters, 4/28/15)(AFP, 4/28/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 29, Burundi took the
controversial question of President Pierre Nkurunziza's third term
bid to the constitutional court but opposition supporters dismissed
the move and said demonstrations would go on.
   (AFP, 4/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 30, In Burundi at
least nine protestors were hurt in Bujumbura in renewed clashes over
a bid by the country's president to stand for a third term. A
soldier died and a civilian was hurt when an intelligence officer
opened fire near a barricade erected by protesters in Bujumbura.
   (AFP, 4/30/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, In Burundi 2 police
officers and a civilian were killed in two grenade attacks late
today in Bujumbura.
   (AP, 5/2/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, Burundi's
government vowed a major crackdown after a week of political
protests. Protest organizers called for a two-day halt to
demonstrations against President Pierre Nkurunziza's move to seek a
third term, which they says violates the constitution and endangers
the peace deal that ended a civil war in 2005.
   (AFP, 5/2/15)   (Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 3, Burundi journalists
held a somber gathering to mark World Press Freedom Day, after a
week of political violence that has also seen radio stations shut
down.
   (AFP, 5/3/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 4, Burundi police shot
dead at least 3 demonstrators and wounded dozens of others, in
running battles with protesters angry at a bid by President Pierre
Nkurunziza to extend his rule.
   (AFP, 5/4/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, Burundi's
constitutional court validated the president's controversial bid for
a third term but the deputy president of the court, who fled to
Rwanda ahead of the ruling, called it unconstitutional.
   (AP, 5/5/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 6, The UN said nearly
40,000 refugees have fled Burundi to neighboring Rwanda, Tanzania
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last month, amid
protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term.
   (Reuters, 5/6/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, In Burundi at least
4 people were killed in clashes over the president's bid for a third
term. Protesters burned a man alive in Bujumbura, saying he was a
member of the ruling party's youth wing which had attacked them
during their demonstrations.
   (AFP, 5/7/15)(Reuters, 5/7/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 9, Burundi's leading
opposition figure, Agathon Rwasa, registered to run in a coming
presidential election against Pierre Nkurunziza, whose quest for a
third term has sparked two weeks of protests. The government ordered
"insurgents" to end weeks of demonstrations against President Pierre
Nkurunziza's third term bid and ordered all barricades to be removed
within 48 hours.
   (Reuters, 5/9/15)(AFP, 5/9/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 10, In Burundi one
person was killed in a clash with police in Bujumbura, as the
government ordered a ban on any further street protests over
President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term.
   (AP, 5/10/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, In Burundi about
2,000 people marched through a neighborhood of Bujumbura as police
looked on, breaking the government's ban on any further street
protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term
in power.
   (AP, 5/11/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 12, Burundi police
opened fire on protesters as President Pierre Nkurunziza defied
international pressure to end a controversial third term bid.
   (AFP, 5/12/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, Burundi Major
General Godefroid Niyombare said he had deposed President Pierre
Nkurunziza for seeking an unconstitutional third term in office, and
was working with civil society groups to form a transitional
government. Niyombare was fired as Nkurunziza's intelligence chief
in February. President Pierre Nkurunziza was abroad at an African
summit in Tanzania.
   (Reuters, 5/13/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, Burundi's armed
forces chief announced that an attempted coup against President
Pierre Nkurunziza had failed, although the claim was quickly denied
by opponents of the central African nation's leader. Rival factions
of Burundi's army fought intense battles for control of the capital.
12 soldiers who backed the coup were killed. Pres, Nkurunziza
returned to Burundi and a deputy coup leader said the attempted coup
has failed.
   (AFP, 5/14/15)(Reuters, 5/15/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, The UN refugee
agency said more than 105,000 people have fled Burundi to Tanzania,
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, following an attempted
coup and protests.
   (Reuters, 5/15/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, Burundi officials
said five generals have been arrested for plotting a failed coup led
by Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, who remained in hiding.
   (SSFC, 5/17/15, p.A2)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 18, Burundi's
president sacked his defense and foreign minister after a failed
coup bid, as hundreds of protesters defied warnings to end
demonstrations and resumed weeks of anti-government street marches.
   (AFP, 5/18/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, Burundi police
fired tear gas and beat protesters who were demanding President
Pierre Nkurunziza end his bid for a third term. Rights groups say at
least 20 people have died in three weeks of clashes between security
forces and protesters.
   (Reuters, 5/19/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 20, A Burundi army
officer said police killed a soldier who was trying act as a buffer
between police and protesters, who are demonstrating against the
president's bid for a third term in office.
   (AP, 5/20/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, In Burundi street
battles and gunfire erupted again in Bujumbura as protesters against
Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza rejected calls for calm. 2 protesters were
killed bringing to 20 the number of deaths witnessed by the Red
Cross over the last month.
   (Reuters, 5/21/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, Belgium warned
Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza that it would cut off aid to
his government if he went ahead with his bid for a third term in
office.
   (Reuters, 5/21/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, The WHO said a
cholera outbreak has killed at least 30 people in a Tanzanian
refugee camp for Burundians.
   (AP, 5/21/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, The UN refugee
agency said an outbreak of cholera has infected 3,000 people in a
Tanzanian border region where refugees from Burundi have massed.
UNHCR said 300 to 400 new cases are being reported daily.
   (AP, 5/22/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 23, In Burundi
opposition politician Zedi Feruzi and a body guard were killed in a
drive-by shooting. Thousands of people attended his funeral the next
day.
   (AP, 5/24/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 29, Agathon Rwasa,
Burundi's most prominent opposition leader, said his party is
boycotting elections amid political unrest stemming from the
president's bid for a third term.
   (AP, 5/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 31, In Tanzania
African leaders began talks in their second summit in a month aimed
at restoring peace in Burundi.
   (Reuters, 5/31/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, Protesters in
Burundi clashed again with police just three days ahead of
parliamentary elections after a month of demonstrations against
President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a controversial third term.
   (AFP, 6/2/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 5, Burundi police shot
dead a protester in the capital amid renewed demonstrations against
President Pierre Nkurunziza.
   (AFP, 6/5/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 19, Rights activists
said at least 77 people have been killed in Burundi in clashes with
security forces since the start of antigovernment protests in April.
   (SFC, 6/20/15, p.A2)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, In Burundi 4
people died and at least 30 were wounded in an overnight grenade
attack on a bar in the country's northern region of Ngozi. Three
people were arrested following the attack.
   (AP, 6/22/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25, Burundian students
broke into the US embassy to escape police as one of the country's
vice presidents announced he had fled to Belgium.
   (AFP, 6/25/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 27, In Burundi
witnesses in Jabe neighborhood in of Bujumbura, reported intense
gunfire late today in an apparent police crackdown on areas seen as
hosting anti-government protesters. Two people were killed in
attacks believed to have been carried out by police.
   (AP, 6/28/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 29, Burundians voted
in controversial elections that were condemned internationally amid
an opposition boycott and grenade attacks, with the election
commission claiming an "enormous" turnout despite many stations
being quiet.
   (AFP, 6/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 10, Burundi's
government said it backed regional calls to postpone controversial
polls, but only by a few days, saying it had asked the election
commission to implement the delay. Burundian soldiers clashed with
gunmen in a northern region near Rwanda. Government soldiers killed
31 suspected rebels and captured another 170 in Kayanza province.
   (AFP, 7/10/15)(SFC, 7/14/15, p.A2)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 12, In Burundi a
regional governor said the army has captured scores of gunmen and
killed others in two days of clashes in the north.
   (Reuters, 7/12/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 18, In Burundi three
candidates announced their withdrawal from the July 21 elections
saying the presidential contest will not be free and fair.
   (SSFC, 7/19/15, p.A3)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 21, Polls for
Burundi’s presidential election opened to the news that 3 people had
been killed overnight. On July 24 the election commission announced
that President Pierre Nkurunziza won his controversial third
consecutive term in office
   (AP, 7/21/15)(AFP, 7/24/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 22, A supporter of
Burundi's opposition was shot dead, a victim of electoral violence
as the country awaits results of the presidential election amid
unrest due to President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term.
   (AP, 7/23/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 25, Burundi's main
opposition leader Agathon Rwasa denounced the third consecutive term
win by President Pierre Nkurunziza and demanded fresh elections.
   (AFP, 7/25/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 27, The US State
Department took Malaysia and Cuba off its “tier 3” list of countries
failing to combat modern-day slavery, leaving the US open to
criticism that politics is swaying the often-contentious rankings in
its annual human trafficking report. Burundi, Belize, Belarus,
Comoros and South Sudan were downgraded to Tier 3, where Thailand
remained for a second year.
   (AP, 7/27/15)(Reuters, 7/27/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 2, In Burundi General
Adolphe Nshimirimana, a close aide to Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza, was
killed in a rocket attack on his car in Bujumbura.
   (AP, 8/2/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 3, Burundian human
rights activist Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa was shot in the face as he
made his way home from work by a gunman on a motorbike. He publicly
opposed Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial and successful bid
for a third term last month. Mbonimpa survived and his condition the
next day was reported stable.
   (AFP, 8/4/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 5, In Burundi Come
Harerimana, a local leader of the ruling party, was attacked and
killed in Bujumbura, the third high-profile attack in three days.
   (Reuters, 8/5/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 13, Burundi's ruling
party termed the controversial re-election of President Pierre
Nkurunziza (51) a "divine miracle", as the opposition accused him of
declaring war by clinging to power. Meanwhile violence continued
unabated with at least 3 people killed in the last 24 hours.
   (AFP, 8/13/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 15, In Burundi
unidentified gunmen shot and killed Col. Jean Bikomagu, the former
army chief of staff, in the second high-profile killing this month
amid chaos linked to the disputed reelection of President Pierre
Nkurunziza.
   (AP, 8/15/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 18, In Burundi 4
people were killed in Bujumbura as violence persisted following the
controversial re-election of President Pierre Nkurunziza.
   (AP, 8/19/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Burundi President
Pierre Nkurunziza was sworn in for a third term without any fanfare
or even a public announcement beforehand.
   (AP, 8/20/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 2, In Burundi
anti-government protesters resumed in some neighborhoods in the
capital after residents accused the police of harassment. At least 4
people were killed in the renewed clashes.
   (AP, 9/2/15)(AFP, 9/2/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 7, In Burundi the
spokesman for an opposition party was shot and killed outside his
home in Bujumbura.
   (AP, 9/8/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, In Burundi the
head of the armed forces survived an assassination attempt in the
capital Bujumbura. At least seven people were killed in the attack.
   (AFP, 9/11/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 16, A Burundi official
said more than 100 men in a central province have been arrested in
two days by security forces trying to prevent Burundians from being
recruited to fight the government.
   (AP, 9/16/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 24, In Burundi
unidentified gunmen raided a police station in Bujumbura. One of the
attackers was killed with no other casualties.
   (Reuters, 9/25/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 3, In Burundi at least
a dozen civilians were killed in clashes between police and
anti-government protesters in Bujumbura.
   (AFP, 10/4/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 9, In Burundi unknown
gunmen killed Pascal Nshirimana, the son-in-law of prominent human
rights activist Pierre Clave Mbonimpa, who openly opposed President
Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial bid for a third term in office.
   (Reuters, 10/9/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 13, In Burundi 9
civilians, including a staff member of the International
Organization for Migration (IOM), were shot to death reportedly at
close range. 2 police officers also died during exchanges of heavy
gunfire in Bujumbura.
   (AFP, 10/15/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 26, In Burundi gunmen
hurled grenades and battled with police in a series of deadly
clashes, the latest violence since the controversial re-election of
President Pierre Nkurunziza. Police killed a "madman" who tried to
attack officers with a machete in Bujumbura. Over the next 24 hours
more than a dozen people were killed in clashes between security
forces and citizens.
   (AFP, 10/27/15)(Reuters, 10/28/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 2, Burundi President
Pierre Nkurunziza gave civilians five days to surrender any illegal
weapons or face tough action by the police. 2 more bodies were
discovered in Bujumbura. 9 people have been killed in gunfights with
security forces since Oct 31.
   (AP, 11/3/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 5, In Burundi some
residents fled their neighborhood in Bujumbura after they found four
bodies on the streets, part of a wave of killings associated with
President Pierre Nkurunziza's re-election for a third term.
   (AP, 11/5/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 8, In Burundi gunmen
at least 9 people were killed in an attack at a bar in Bujumbura
hours before police launched house-to-house searches for weapons.
Families were fleeing their homes in the capital, over fears the
government will unleash a fresh wave of bloodletting as part of a
crackdown to stamp out resistance to the president.
   (AFP, 11/8/15)(SFC, 11/9/15, p.A4)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 16, In Burundi three
grenades exploded in different parts of the capital following a
night of violence in which 5 people, including a policeman, were
killed. 60 injured people were treated after suffering injuries in
grenade explosions.
   (AP, 11/16/15)(AP, 11/18/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 22, Burundi police
said at least 5 people were killed in overnight clashes. Residents
reported a battle at the president's office in the capital Bujumbura
which has been plagued by violence since a disputed presidential
election.
   (Reuters, 11/22/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 23, The US said it
would impose sanctions on four current and former Burundi government
officials, including the minister of public security and the leader
of a failed coup, because of violence in Burundi.
   (Reuters, 11/26/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 27, In Burundi
attackers shot at a lawmaker from the ruling party as he drove to
parliament, killing one police officer and wounding others.
   (Reuters, 11/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 28, In Burundi Colonel
Serges Kabanyura was wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen on
his way to Bujumbura.
   (Reuters, 11/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 29, In Burundi gunmen
in Bujumbura shot dead army Major Salvator Katihabwa and wounded the
husband of the senate's deputy speaker.
   (AFP, 11/30/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 2, In Burundi at least
7 people were killed over the last 24 hours in gun battles and
grenade blasts with bodies found dumped on the streets.
   (AFP, 12/2/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, Burundi police shot
dead 3 attackers and arrested three others when they foiled an
attempt to ambush and assassinate a top police officer in the
capital.
   (Reuters, 12/4/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, In Burundi at least
7 people were killed in Bujumbura during a night of violence in
flashpoint districts where months of protests took place against
President Pierre Nkurunziza.
   (Reuters, 12/9/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, In Burundi gunmen
stormed three military installations before dawn. At least 15 people
were killed as gunfire and explosions rocked the capital. 87 people
were reported killed in the violence.
   (AP, 12/11/15)(AP, 12/12/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 12, Burundi residents
awoke to find at least 39 dead bodies scattered in the streets of
Bujumbura, a day after coordinated armed assaults on three military
installations. 87 people were killed in an escalation of the
violence surrounding the disputed third term of President Pierre
Nkurunziza.
   (AFP, 12/12/15)(AP, 12/13/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18, The African Union
said it will send a 5,000 strong force to stop violence in troubled
Burundi, giving Bujumbura a four-day deadline to agree but warning
it would send troops anyway.
   (AFP, 12/19/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 20, Burundi's
government said it would not agree to the deployment of African
Union peacekeepers, warning that they would be seen as an invasion
force.
   (AFP, 12/20/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 22, Burundi's
government rejected a proposed African Union peacekeeping mission
already dubbed an "invasion force" by parliament.
   (AFP, 12/22/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 23, Burundi's rebels
came together for the first time as a force aimed at ousting
President Pierre Nkurunziza, after months of bloodshed in the
troubled central African country. The rebels have called themselves
the Republican Forces of Burundi, or "Forebu" from its name in
French, Les Forces Republicaines du Burundi.
   (AFP, 12/23/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 26, In Burundi
thousands of supporters of the president protested against the
African Union's plan to deploy 5,000 peacekeepers to quell the
country's escalating unrest.
   (AP, 12/26/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 27, Rival Burundi
factions traveled to Uganda ahead of talks aimed at ending months of
violence, as the African Union pushed the government to accept a
peacekeeping force.
   (AFP, 12/27/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 28, Burundi's
government and opposition kicked off peace talks in Uganda.
   (Reuters, 12/28/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â The population of Burundi
was over 10 million.
   (Econ., 5/2/15, p.42)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 1, In Burundi at least
one person was killed and a dozen injured in a series of grenade
attacks in Bujumbura.
   (AFP, 1/1/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 13, In Burundi Army
Capt. Idi Omar Bahenda and police Brig. Jean Claude Niyongabo were
killed in a gunfight with military forces in the Kiyenzi area of
Bujumbura. Bahenda was wanted for recruiting rebels opposed to the
government.
   (AP, 1/13/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 15, The UN said it has
documented cases of Burundi's security forces gang-raping women
during searches of opposition supporters' houses and heard witness
testimony of mass graves.
   (Reuters, 1/15/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 18, In Burundi 3
people were killed late today in a grenade attack on a bar in
Bujumbura.
   (Reuters, 1/19/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 23, In Ethiopia UN
Security Council ambassadors and African Union leaders met for
crisis talks on Burundi, after the government refused a proposed AU
force to stem violence in the troubled country.
   (AFP, 1/23/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 30, African leaders
met in Addis Ababa in a bid to end armed crises, including in
troubled Burundi, with an unprecedented vote on deploying a
5,000-strong peacekeeping force despite Burundi's vehement
opposition.
   (AFP, 1/30/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, A confidential
report to the UN Security Council accused Rwanda of recruiting and
training Burundian refugees with the goal of ousting Burundian
President Pierre Nkurunziza.
   (Reuters, 2/3/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 12, Rwanda said it
will send Burundian refugees to other countries, after the United
States said that they were being recruited from camps to fight on
behalf of the Burundian opposition.
   (Reuters, 2/12/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 13, In central Burundi
two people loyal to the ruling party were "executed" overnight in
Gacimbirigongo.
   (AFP, 2/13/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 13, In Burundi a
grenade attack late today on a military base in Bujumbura killed a
child and wounded his father and one other person.
   (Reuters, 2/14/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, Insurgents in
Burundi hurled a series of grenades, killing a child and wounding at
least 30 people in the latest in a string of attacks.
   (AFP, 2/15/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 21, In Burundi 2
people were killed late today in a gun attack in a bar.
   (Reuters, 2/22/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, In Burundi one
person had died and another was wounded in a grenade attack at a
Bujumbura market just hours before the arrival of UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who is trying to end the bloodshed
over President Pierre Nkurunziza's disputed re-election.
   (Reuters, 2/22/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 23, Burundi's
president promised to hold talks, free prisoners and lift arrest
warrants to try and end months of violence, UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon said after the two men met in the capital.
   (Reuters, 2/23/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 25, A delegation of
five African heads of state arrived in Bujumbura at the start of a
two-day visit to push for talks to end Burundi's deep political
crisis.
   (AFP, 2/25/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 27, The African Union
said it will deploy rights observers and military monitors to
violence-plagued Burundi following a visit to the country by five
African leaders.
   (AP, 2/27/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 2, Former Tanzanian
president Benjamin Mkapa was named as the new mediator for talks to
end a nearly year-long crisis in neighboring Burundi by the regional
East African Community (EAC).
   (AFP, 3/2/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 14, The European Union
said it is suspending direct financial support for the Burundian
government after concluding that it had not done enough to find a
political solution to conflict that has so far cost more than 400
lives.
   (Reuters, 3/14/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, In Burundi Maj.
Didier Muhimpundu was killed after being shot several times in a bar
in Bujumbura. Lieutenant Colonel Darius Ikurakure was shot dead by
an assassin dressed in a military uniform inside the ministry
compound in Bujumbura. The rebel group FOREBU, led by a former
officer who launched an abortive coup, later claimed responsibility
for the death of Ikurakure.
   (AP, 3/23/16)(Reuters, 3/26/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 30, In Burundi Jacques
Bihozagara, a former Rwandan ambassador to France and Belgium and an
ex-government minister, died in a jail where he was being held on
suspicion of spying, adding to cross-border tensions that have
increased dangerously in recent months. He had been held on
espionage charges since December.
   (Reuters, 3/31/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 11, In Burundi gunmen
killed at least 5 people and wounded seven when they opened fire on
a market late today in the eastern Ruyigi region.
   (AFP, 4/12/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, In Burundi Phocas
Bakaza, a member of the ruling CNDD-FDD party, was shot dead in
Mutimbuza area near the capital Bujumbura. Two people were soon
arrested in connection with the attack.
   (AP, 4/14/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 14, A Burundi soldier
was killed when an armed group attacked a military camp northwest of
Bujumbura.
   (Reuters, 4/14/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, Burundi announced
that almost 700 soldiers were to be forced to retire. Almost all of
them served in the army when it was an entirely Tutsi institution.
   (Econ, 4/23/16, p.37)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 16, In Burundi 4
members of the country's ruling party were killed in an attack in
continuing violence associated with the extended tenure of Pres.
Pierre Nkurunziza.
   (AP, 4/17/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, In Burundi gunmen
ambushed Colonel Emmanuel Buzubona as he traveled on the back of a
motorbike to his home in Bujumbura. Soldiers on patrol killed two
people in a clash with an armed group in Kivumu village in Mugamba
southern district, 60 km southeast of Bujumbura.
   (Reuters, 4/21/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 25, In Burundi
Athanase Kararuza, a Tutsi general and security advisor to the vice
president, was killed in an attack by heavily-armed men, along with
his wife and daughter in Bujumbura.
   (AP, 4/25/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 25, In eastern Burundi
nearly 30 schoolchildren and their supervisors were killed and many
more injured when their truck crashed outside Musongati.
   (AFP, 4/25/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, Rwanda officials
said over 1,500 Burundians have been expelled in recent days, amid
worsening relations between the neighbors.
   (AFP, 5/16/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 24, In Burundi gunmen
killed 3 people including a retired army colonel and a police chief,
in continuing violence associated with Pres. Pierre Nkurunziza's
extended time in power.
   (AP, 5/25/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, The United States
said it has sanctioned Burundi military commander Marius
Ngendabanka, security official Ignace Sibomana and rebel leader
Edouard Nshimirimana for engaging in actions or policies that
threaten the peace, security or stability of the East African
country.
   (AP, 6/3/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 13, In Burundi Hafsa
Mossi, a former minister in President Pierre Nkurunziza's
government, was "shot by criminals" in Bujumbura. She was a member
of the East African Legislative Assembly.
   (Reuters, 7/13/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 29, The UN Security
Council agreed to send a contingent of 228 United Nations police to
Burundi to control the continuing violence and to protect human
rights in the East African nation.
   (AP, 7/30/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 30, In Burundi more
than 1,000 people participated in a government-backed demonstration
in the capital, Bujumbura, to protest France's proposal passed by UN
Security Council to deploy UN police to the country.
   (AP, 7/30/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 2, Burundi said it
would refuse to allow United Nations police onto its territory to
monitor the security and human rights situation after the UN
Security Council voted to send 228 officers.
   (Reuters, 8/3/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 24, Burundi's
government refused to cooperate with a UN inquiry into months of
political violence, saying accusations of abuses by its officials
were part of a political plot. The UN released a report by
independent experts in September identifying government officials
suspected of ordering political opposition to be tortured or killed.
   (Reuters, 11/24/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 26, In Burundi
thousands of people took part in street protests across the country
in support of the government's opposition to United Nations
investigators who are looking into alleged human rights abuses in
the east African country.
   (AP, 11/26/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 22, Democratic
Republic of Congo troops killed 10 soldiers from neighboring Burundi
after they crossed the border overnight in pursuit of rebels.
   (AFP, 12/26/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 23, Burundi's
parliament passed a law imposing strict controls on international
non-governmental organizations after President Pierre Nkurunziza
accused such groups of backing an insurrection against him.
   (AFP, 12/24/16)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 1, In Burundi a gunman
killed Emmanuel Niyonkuru (54), the country’s environment and water
minister early today, the first senior government figure to be
murdered in nearly two years of political violence.
   (Reuters, 1/1/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 13, Burundi’s health
minister said about 700 people have died from malaria in Burundi so
far this year. He said authorities have registered 1.8 million
infections in a rising epidemic.
   (AFP, 3/14/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 29, The UN said a
malaria outbreak has killed more than 4,000 people in Burundi this
year, a significant increase over the 700 cited by the country’s
health ministry on March 13.
   (SFC, 3/30/17, p.A2)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 18, The UN rights
chief condemned the feared youth wing of Burundi's ruling party for
repeatedly calling for the rape and murder of opposition supporters.
Human Rights Watch has accused the Imbonerakure of being involved in
assaults on opposition members, gang-rapes of women and torture. The
UN regularly refers to them as a militia.
   (AFP, 4/18/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â May 17, In Burundi an
unidentified man threw a grenade into a house in Bujumbura, killing
three people believed to be members of the ruling party's youth
wing.
   (Reuters, 5/18/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, The Burundi
government said unmarried couples have until the end of the year to
legalize their relationships, as part of an effort to reform morals
in the country.
   (AFP, 5/26/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 15, Burundi denied UN
allegations that said its security forces and government-allied
militia are continuing to torture and kill opponents.
   (AFP, 6/15/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 9, In Burundi a
grenade attack late today killed eight people and wounded 50 others
in a village in northern Kayanza province.
   (Reuters, 7/10/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 18, In Washington, DC,
six teens from Burundi went missing while competing in an int’l.
robotics competition. Two of them were seen crossing into Canada and
foul play was not suspected.
   (SFC, 7/22/17, p.A6)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 17, In Burundi grenade
attacks on two bars killed at least three people and wounded 27
others in Bujumbura.
   (Reuters, 8/18/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 4, UN investigators
accused Burundi's government of crimes against humanity, including
executions and torture, and urged the International Criminal Court
to open a case "as soon as possible". Burundi formally announced it
was withdrawing from the court, with the move set to take effect on
October 27.
   (AFP, 9/4/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 15, In eastern Congo
DRC at least 36 Burundian refugees were killed in clashes with
Congolese security forces in the town of Kamanyola over plans to
send some of them home. One Congolese officer was killed. Congo's
government spokesman Lambert Mende denied that those killed were
refugees, saying that the clashes broke out when assailants from an
unidentified armed group attacked an office belonging to the
national intelligence agency.
   (Reuters, 9/16/17)(SSFC, 9/17/17 p.A3)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 29, The UN Human
Rights Council voted to extend the mission of an international probe
into atrocities in Burundi, overriding strong pushback from the
government accused of crimes against humanity.
   (AFP, 9/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 24, Burundi's cabinet
backed a constitutional change that would allow its president to
stay in office until 2034, widening a political rift that has driven
the country progressively deeper into crisis.
   (Reuters, 10/27/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 27, Burundi became the
first country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.
Officials said the court's prosecutor will move ahead with an
examination of the East African nation's deadly political turmoil.
   (AP, 10/27/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 9, The International
Criminal Court (ICC) approved a prosecution request to investigate
war crimes allegedly committed in Burundi by the government and
government-linked groups against political foes from April 2015 to
October 2017.
   (Reuters, 11/9/17)
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