Timeline Burundi
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A former Belgian colony with 85% Hutu, 14%
Tutsi
people and 1% Twa.
(SFC, 4/12/96, p.A-12)(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1901 Feb 23,
Britain and Germany agreed on a boundary between German East Africa
[later Tanganyika, Rwanda and Burundi] and Nyasaland [later Malawi].
(HN, 2/23/98)(WUD, 1994, p.593,990)
1923 The kingdoms of Ruanda and
Urundi, a part of German East Africa, were conquered by British and
Belgian troops during WWI, and became a Belgian mandate in 1923.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.A12)(HNQ, 11/4/99)
1962 Burundi gained independence
from Belgium. The United Nations 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)(HNQ, 11/4/99)
1972 The Tutsi-led government in
Burundi killed some 100,000 Hutus.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A14)(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.A19)
1987-1993 Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi paratrooper, became
the military president of Burundi.
(SFC, 8/26/96, p.A4)
1993 Jun, Melchior Ndadaye was
elected president in the first democratic election in Burundi.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)
1993 Oct 21, Burundi’s first Hutu
president, Melchior Ndadaye, was assassinated by Tutsi soldiers. 5
soldiers were sentenced to death for the murder in 1999. The military
coup caused 525,000 Hutu's to flee.
(WSJ, 8/21/96,p.A1)(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)
1993 Pierre Buyoya paved the way
for Burundi elections and handed the presidency to Melchior Ndadaye, a
Hutu, elected by the Hutu majority.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A9)
1994 Apr 6, The presidents of
Rwanda and Burundi were killed on a return trip from Tanzania in a
mysterious plane crash near Kigali, Rwanda; widespread violence erupted
in Rwanda over claims the plane had been shot down: Agatha
Uwilingiyimana, Rwanda’s and Africa’s 1st female PM, Cyprian Niayamira
(Ntaryamira), president of Burundi (1993-94) and Juvenal Habyarimana,
president of Rwanda (1973) were killed. 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.
(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)
1994 Pres. Sylvestre
Ntibantunganya took office in Burundi.
(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1994 Seven Rwandan refugee camps
were created in Burundi and held some 250,000 people.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)
1995 Feb, Prime Minister Antoine
Nduwayo took office in Burundi.
(SFC, 5/23/96, p.A17)
1996 Jan, The Burundi president
warned that the country may be on the brink of a possible collapse due
to fighting between the ethnic fanatics in the Hutu majority and the
Tutsi-dominated army.
(WSJ, 1/3/96, p.A-1)
1996 Jan, Tutsi militants closed
down the Burundi capital in a general strike. They accused the
president of backing massacres by Hutus after the killing of a
predecessor in 1993.
(WSJ, 1/17/96, p.A-1)
1996 Apr, The Red Cross said more
than 55,000 people have been driven from their homes by ethnic fighting
that intensified last month. More than 100,000 have been killed since
1993 in the conflict between majority Hutus and minority Tutsis. The
fighting occurred in the capital city of Bujumbura. 235 civilians
died when the Burundi army attacked villages at Buhoro.
(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 5/5/96, p.T-8)(SFC,
5/13/96, p.C-12)
1996 May 3, A handwritten account
reached the Burundi capital that described the massacre of 375 people
at the Kivyuka village market by government soldiers angry over recent
rebel attacks on local power line towers. An army spokesman denied the
charges.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-8)
1996 May 16, Sylvestre
Ntibantunganya, the Burundi’s Hutu president, has called his army
“paralyzed and useless” and given it a week to stop ethnic violence
between Tutsi armed forces and Hutu rebels.
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 30, Suspected Hutu rebels
of the Council for the Defense of Democracy killed at least 61 and
wounded 25 Tutsis in eastern Burundi.
(SFC, 5/31/96, A16)
1996 Jun 4, In Burundi 3 Swiss Red
Cross workers were ambushed and killed while delivering supplies near
the village of Mugina. The Tutsi-dominated Uprona Party denied any role
and said the killings were the work of gangs of the Coalition for the
Defense of Democracy, the main Hutu rebel group.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C16)(SFC, 6/6/96, p.C3)
1996 Jun 13, A Burundi army report
claimed that 50 Hutu rebels were killed in an attack on a training camp.
(SFC, 6/14/96, p. A16)
1996 Jul 4, Unidentified gunmen
killed 80 people in an attack on a tea factory 15 miles northeast of
Bujumbura, Burundi.
(WSJ, 7/5/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 21, In Burundi Hutu
rebels killed 320 Tutsis, mostly women and children, at a refugee camp
45 miles north of the capital.
(WSJ, 7/22/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 25, In Burundi the
military seized power and named former president Pierre Buyoya, a
Tutsi, as president. Hutu officials sought refuge in foreign embassies.
Burundian Hutus fled to Zaire's South Kivu province, base of the
National Council for the Defense of Democracy, an extremist Burundi
Hutu movement backed by Zaire.
(WSJ, 7/26/96, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/15/96, p.A16)
1996 Jul 26, UN sources said that
268 Hutu civilians were killed in Burundi’s Gitega province. The Tutsi
army said Hutu rebels attacked a coffee factory in Giheta.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A8)
1996 Jul 27, In Burundi a
Tutsi-led army killed at least 30 Hutu rebels in retaliation for an
attack on a coffee plantation. Independent sources said that Hutus set
fire to the factory and rice plantation in Giheta to justify a
retaliatory attack on villages where Hutu rebels were thought to have
taken refugees. Villagers said Tutsi soldiers massacred about 1,000
Hutus as they roamed from village to village in Gitega province.
(WSJ, 7/30/96, p.A1)(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A8)
1996 Aug 13, The last 2 commercial
flights left Burundi as the outside world tightened sanctions to punish
the new military regime.
(SFC, 8/14/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 20, In Burundi Pierre
Buyoya sacked his army chief, Jean Bikomagu, who was implicated in the
1993 assassination of the first Hutu president Melchior Ndadaye. He
also fired 2 more powerful military officers.
(WSJ, 8/21/96, p.A1)(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A9)(SFC,
8/22/96, p.E5)
1996 Aug 27, The last Rwandan
refugee camp in Burundi closed.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug, After the Burundi coup
of Jul 25, former Tanzanian Pres. Julius Nyerere led East African
leaders to impose sanctions on Burundi and force Buyoya to restore
democratic rule.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A9)
1996 Sep 3, Hutu guerrillas
attacked an army garrison and local government headquarters in northern
Burundi.
(SFC, 4/9/96, A10)
1996 Oct 21, In Murambi village,
Burundi, some 300 (258-435) Hutu refugees returned from Zaire and were
killed as they sought refuge in a village church.
(SFC, 11/23/96, p.A8)(SFC, 12/12/96, p.C2)
1997 Jan 5, In Burundi the
Tutsi-led army attacked and killed hundreds of Hutus in a dispute over
land at Bukeye in central Burundi.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A10)
1997 Jan 11, Soldiers shot and
killed 126 Burundian Hutu refugees trying to break out of a holding
camp in the northeast. Seven soldiers were arrested for the slayings.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.A12)
1997 Feb 21, It was reported that
Burundi troops killed more than 150 civilians in reprisals for rebel
attacks. 100 people were killed at Mugara and fifty near Maramvya.
(SFC, 2/22/96, p.A12)
1997 Apr 16, African leaders of 7
nations eased their embargo on Burundi to alleviate local suffering.
(SFC, 4/16/97, p.A12)
1997 May 13, An outbreak of Typhus
was reported in Burundi. Some 20,000 cases in 3 northwest provinces
were reported by March, mostly in Hutu regroupment camps set up by the
Tutsi-led military.
(WSJ, 5/13/97, p.A1)
1997 May 29, It was reported that
the Tutsi-led army killed more than 40 Hutu rebels that included Hutu
students kicked out of Bujumburu Univ. in 1995.
(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 1, A UN report from this
day was made public in 2000 and cited Tutsi informants claiming that
they helped to shoot down the airplane carrying Rwandan Pres. Juvanal
Habyarimana on Apr 6, 1994.
(SFC, 3/2/00, p.A14)
1997 Oct 20, Soldiers of the Tutsi
army packed 40 civilians into a rural school in the region of Kibezi
and tossed a grenade inside. All were killed. Major Andre Nijongabo, a
Burundi army commander, defended the incident claiming that the dead
were “genocidal terrorists.” Hutu rebels had burned 18 schools a week
ago.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.A11)
1997 Marie-Louise Sibazuri
launched her Burundi radio drama "Our Neighbors Are Our Family." In
1998 she moved to Belgium and directed the program from there.
(WSJ, 3/16/00, p.A1)
1998 Jan 1, Some 1-2 thousand Hutu
rebels attacked a Burundi military base and near the main airport and
150 civilians, 30 rebels and 2 soldiers were reported killed. Later
reports said as many as 300 were killed and that the army had sealed up
the area.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.A1)(SFC, 1/2/98, p.A14)(SFC, 1/3/98,
p.A8)
1998 Jan 12, In Burundi Hutu
rebels attacked army positions and at least 55 people were killed.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A1)
1988 Jan 21, In Burundi Hutu
rebels killed 45 people in 2 attacks, and 20 rebels died in a
subsequent battle with the army.
(WSJ, 1/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 28, Burundi Colonel
Firmin Sinzoyiheba, the Tutsi minister of defense, was killed in a
helicopter crash in the Gihinga Hills.
(SFC, 1/29/98, p.A11)
1998 Burundi military leader
Pierre Buyoya was sworn in as president by the democratically elected
parliament.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 28, In Burundi 34 people
were killed south of the capital.
(SFC, 10/29/98, p.A14)
1999 Jan 19, Rebels based in
Tanzania killed 59 civilians in Makamba, Burundi. In Muresi Hill 76
civilians were killed.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1999 Jan 28, In Burundi officials
reported that at least 178 civilians had been killed over the last 2
weeks in clashes between rebels and government troops.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1999 May 14, In Burundi 5 soldiers
were sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Pres. Melchior Ndadaye.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)
1999 Jul 16, In Burundi peace
talks ended in a deadlock.
(SFC, 7/17/99, p.A14)
1999 Jul, Burundi government
troops began herding Hutu farmers around Bujumburu into 58 makeshift
camps to deprive rebels of support. Cholera, dysentery and malnutrition
soon became rife in the camps.
(SFC, 1/3/00, p.A9)
1999 Aug 29, In Burundi Hutu
militiamen attacked 2 neighborhoods outside Bujumbura and killed at
least 26 civilians.
(SFC, 8/30/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 31, It was reported that
Bryan Rich of America and Alexis Sinduhije of Burundi, founders of the
country's first independent news outlet, were making a documentary
called "Breaking the Code," featuring interviews with Hutu and Tutsi
participants in the 1993 slaughter.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 24, In Burundi the
government reported that Hutu rebels had hacked to death 11 civilians
in 2 separate attacks.
(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 26, In Nyambuye, Burundi,
30 people were killed in a Catholic church. Unidentified men in uniform
opened fire while mostly Hutu worshipers prayed.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.C14)
1999 Sep 28, It was reported that
the Burundi army has recently forced over 200,000 villagers into
makeshift camps without food or water and that 100 people had died over
the past week.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.C14)
1999 Oct 12, In Burundi Hutu
rebels attacked a UN humanitarian convoy and killed 9 people at the
Muzye refugee camp in Rutana.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.A10)
1999 Nov 22, In Tanzania it was
reported that some 500 people per day were fleeing into the country
from Burundi as fighting in Burundi intensified.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec 1, African leaders chose
Nelson Mandela as the new mediator for talks on ending the 6-year civil
war in Burundi.
(SFC, 12/2/99, p.D2)
1999 Dec 20, In Burundi Gabriel
Gisabwamana, a Hutu member of parliament, was shot and killed by
soldiers at a checkpoint after the 10 p.m. curfew.
(SFC, 12/22/99, p.C11)
1999 Dec 31, Burundian soldiers
killed at least 43 people including children in the Kabezi commune in
Bujumbura Rural province.
(SFC, 1/800, p.A10)
2000 Jan 16, Nelson Mandela
addressed peace talks in Arusha, Tanzania, and admonished the leaders
of Burundi for having failed their people and all of Africa.
(SFC, 1/20/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 21, In Tanzania African
presidents and European ministers appealed to Burundi's leaders to
negotiate a swift end to the civil war.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A9)
2000 Mar 3, In Burundi the
authorities under int'l. pressure began dismantling 6 of nearly 60
camps holding hundreds of thousands of Hutu civilians.
(SFC, 3/4/00, p.C1)
2000 Apr 25, In Burundi 66 people
were reported killed in renewed fighting between Hutu rebels and
government troops.
(SFC, 4/26/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 7, Burundi Pres. Pierre
Buyoya made concessions to end the 7-year war. He agreed to integrate
the Tutsi-led army and to close down the regroupment camps by July 31.
(SFC, 6/8/00, p.C3)
2000 Jul 22, In Burundi uniformed
men killed 53 men, women and children in the village of Butaganzwa,
when they refused to go to a government regroupment camp.
(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A10)
2000 Aug 6, In Burundi Hutu rebels
ambushed a truck carrying military cadets and 28 soldiers and 6
civilians were killed near Nyabiraba village.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 28, Pres. Clinton stopped
in Burundi where Tutsi minority parties refused to sign a deal with the
Hutu majority. Clinton urged the parties to work for peace.
(SFC, 8/29/00, p.A6)
2000 Dec 28, Hutu rebels ambushed
a commuter bus outside Bujumbura and killed 20 passengers.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A10)
2001 Apr 9, In Burundi villagers
were caught in crossfire fighting between the army and Hutu rebels.
11-30 people were killed and thousands were forced to flee their homes.
(SFC, 4/12/01, p.C2)
2001 Apr 18, The Burundi army put
down a coup attempt by junior officers opposed to Pres. Buyoya’s
negotiations with Hutu rebels.
(SFC, 4/19/01, p.A11)
2001 Jun 3, It was reported the
Burundi was poised for war due to conflicts between the Hutu majority
and Tutsi minority.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A16)
2001 Jul 23, In Burundi Pres.
Buyoya survived a coup attempt by Tutsi soldiers and sealed a
power-sharing accord with Hutu politicians. The Arusha accord called
for Buyoya to lead for 18 months followed by a Hutu president for
another 18 months with elections to follow.
(WSJ, 7/24/01, p.A1)(SFC, 7/24/01, p.A6)
2001 Sep 28, It was reported that
clashed in Burundi between government forces and Hutu rebels had killed
at least 19 civilians and 22 soldiers over the last week.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct, Some 150 political
exiles returned to participate in the 3-year transition to democracy.
Some 700 South African soldiers massed in Bujumburu to help protect the
exiles.
(SFC, 11/1/01, p.C7)
2001 Nov 6, In Munini, Burundi, 24
civilians were reported dead from fighting between Hutu rebels and the
Tutsi dominated army.
(SFC, 11/7/01, p.A16)
2001 Nov 9, Hutu rebels in Burundi
abducted 80 teenage boys and 4 teachers from 3 schools in Ruyigi.
Forced recruitment was believed to be the reason. Hundreds of youths
escaped and at least 3 were left dead.
(WSJ, 11/8/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 7, Int’l. donors promised
Burundi over $760 million for reconstruction and to fight AIDS. About
11.3% of the population was infected with HIV.
(SFC, 12/8/01, p.A7)
2001 Dec 25, Burundi Maj. Gen.
Gahiro reported that 515 Hutu rebels and 28 soldiers had been killed in
the Tenga region since Nov 26. He said fighting the area was liberated
but that fighting continued.
(SFC, 12/26/01, p.A8)
2002 Jan 15, Fighting began in
Burundi between the army and Hutu rebels. At least 60 people were dead
after a week.
(SFC, 1/26/02, p.A8)
2002 Mar 19, In Burundi fighting
between the Tutsi dominated army and Hutu rebels forced over 16,000
people from their homes over the last 2 days.
(SFC, 3/20/02, p.A10)
2002 Jun 4, National Liberation
Forces rebels, one of 2 rebel Hutu groups, attacked military positions
near Bujumburu and caused thousands of people to flee the area.
(SFC, 6/5/02, p.A13)
2002 Jun 11, More than 40
Burundian refugees returning home from Tanzania after years in exile
died when the truck carrying them overturned, an official said.
(AP, 6/12/02)
2002 Jun 21, In Burundi a court
has sentenced 11 people to death and 16 others to life imprisonment for
taking part in massacres that followed the 1993 assassination of
Burundi's first democratically elected leader.
(AP, 6/21/02)
2002 Jun 27, Burundian rebels said
they had repelled a major government offensive against bases in the
Kibera National Park, saying 35 government soldiers had been killed in
five day of fighting.
(AP, 6/27/02)
2002 Jul 26, The Burundian army
claimed it has killed at least 500 Hutu rebels during fighting over the
last two weeks, while suffering only 15 losses.
(AP, 7/26/02)
2002 Aug 30, In Burundi the army
reportedly killed 48 Hutu rebels in clashes outside Bujumbura.
(SFC, 9/5/02, p.A11)
2002 Sep 9, In Burundi 183
civilians were killed by uniformed men in an area of heavy fighting
between government troops and rebels. On Sep 18 the government promised
an investigation.
(AP, 9/18/02)
2002 Oct 7, In Burundi 2 smaller
factions of the main rebel movements signed a cease-fire aimed at
ending the 9-year civil war.
(AP, 10/8/02)
2002 Nov 2, In Burundi at least
15,000 people have fled their homes as fighting between the army and
rebels escalated despite peace talks.
(AP, 11/2/02)
2002 Nov 22, Burundi's largest
rebel faction launched a mortar attack on Bujumbura from the
surrounding hills, causing thousands of residents to flee their homes
in the northern part of the city.
(AP, 11/22/02)
2002 Dec 3, In Burundi Pres.
Pierre Buyoya and Pierre Nkurunziza, leader of the main faction of the
Forces for the Defense of Democracy, or FDD, agreed to a cease-fire in
their 9-year civil war (effective Dec 30), in theory leaving only one
rebel group fighting in a conflict that has killed more than 200,000
people.
(AP, 12/3/02)
2003 Jan 15, In Burundi 2 weeks of
fighting between the Tutsi-dominated army and two rebel groups has
displaced more than 30,000 people in two provinces.
(AP, 1/15/03)
2003 Mar 22, Burundi's hardline
Hutu rebel group expressed satisfaction with its first round of peace
talks in Switzerland.
(AP, 3/22/03)
2003 Mar 26, The Burundian army
attacked a rebel stronghold in a Kibira forest with mortars and
artillery, killing 68 insurgents. Rebels said only 2 fighters were
killed.
(AP, 3/27/03)
2003 Apr 2, Burundi said Ethiopia,
Mozambique and South Africa will send 3,500 peacekeepers to enforce a
truce ending nearly 10 years of civil war.
(AP, 4/2/03)
2003 Apr 8, In Burundi battles
started between the Tutsi-dominated army and the rebel Forces for the
Defense of Democracy, or FDD, after the army tried to intercept
insurgents moving into Gitega province. More than 6,000 people fled
their homes in response.
(AP, 4/12/03)
2003 Apr 19, In Burundi a mortar
shell apparently fired from rebel positions in the hills northwest of
Bujumbura crashed into a house, killing three children and wounding a
woman and another child. The latest fighting has forced 50,000 people
to flee their homes.
(AP, 4/19/03)
2003 Apr 30, Burundi's Tutsi
minority handed over the presidency to Domitien Ndayizeye of the Hutu
majority as part of the peace process aimed at ending 9 1/2 years of
civil war.
(AP, 4/30/03)
2003 May 11, The Burundi army
killed 23 Hutu rebels during fighting in central Burundi, but the
insurgents claimed the dead were civilians.
(AP, 5/13/03)
2003 Jul 8, In Burundi Hutu rebels
fought their way into part of the capital, trading gun, mortar and
grenade fire with the Tutsi-dominated army. Thousands fled their homes.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 10, In Burundi recent
fighting left an estimated 170 people killed according to a UN
estimate. 6,000 to 7,000 others had been forced to flee their homes.
(AP, 7/12/03)
2003 Sep 21, The latest outbreak
of fighting between Hutu rebels and the army in Burundi's decade-long
civil war has killed at least 12 people on the outskirts of Bujumbura.
(AP, 9/23/03)
2003 Oct 27, In Burundi fighting
between government soldiers and Hutu rebels has forced more than 5,000
people to flee their homes in the hills surrounding the capital of
Bujumbura.
(AP, 10/28/03)
2003 Nov 2, Burundi's president
and main rebel leader signed a peace agreement, but efforts to end the
decade-long civil war were threatened by renewed fighting between
Tutsi-dominated government troops and other Hutu rebels.
(AP, 11/2/03)
2003 Nov 3, It was reported from
Burundi that a decade of civil war as well as fighting in neighboring
Congo had decimated the once 300-strong herd of hippos whose habitat is
the marshy Ruzizi River that flows from the northern end of Lake
Tanganyika. In August, the World Wildlife Fund warned that 185 miles to
the north, only 1,300 hippos of the 29,000 recorded 30 years ago
remained in and around Lake Edward.
(AP, 11/3/03)
2003 Nov 10, In Burundi Hutu
rebels bombarded the capital with rockets, killing 5 people, destroying
part of the Chinese Embassy and striking the home of a U.S. military
attache.
(AP, 11/10/03)
2003 Nov 16, Burundi's government
signed a comprehensive power-sharing plan with the Hutu FDD, country's
largest rebel group, a major step toward ending a 10-year war that has
killed at least 200,000 people.
(AP, 11/16/03)(Econ, 8/14/04, p.44)
2003 Nov 19, Rebel holdouts in
Burundi clashed with government troops in a capital slum, killing 11
people, mainly noncombatants caught in the crossfire.
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Dec 22, An international
human rights group criticized a peace agreement giving soldiers and
rebels temporary immunity from prosecution for atrocities committed
against civilians in Burundi's 10-year civil war.
(AP, 12/22/03)
2003 Dec 29, In Burundi gunmen
killed Monsignor Michael Courtney, the pope's ambassador, firing on his
car as he was returning from a funeral.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2003 Dec, In Burundi the Forces
for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), the biggest Hutu rebel group,
joined Burundi's transitional government. FNL rebels under Agathon
Rwasa (39) continued to lob mortar shells into Bujumbura.
(Econ, 12/6/03, p.41)
2004 Jan 12, In Burundi Hutu
rebels killed 17 people, including five soldiers, in attacks northwest
of Bujumbura over the last 2 days.
(AP, 1/13/04)
2004 Feb 24, An earthquake shook
Burundi, killing three people and destroying at least two dozen homes.
(AP, 2/24/04)
2004 Aug 13, The FNL, a Burundian
Hutu rebel faction, raided Gatumba camp, a UN refugee camp in western
Burundi, shooting and hacking to death 160 people. The camp sheltered
Congolese ethnic Tutsi refugees, known as the Banyamulenge.
(AP, 8/14/04)(Econ, 8/21/04, p.37)(Econ, 9/11/04,
p.44)
2004 Nov 18, The UN Security
Council opened an extraordinary two-day session in Nairobi, the first
outside its New York headquarters in 14 years. Sudan topped the agenda.
Great Lakes regional foreign ministers approved a pact for greater
cross-border cooperation and confidence-building. It was due to be
adopted at a summit in Dar es Salaam.
(AP, 11/18/04)(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan urged leaders of Africa's blood-soaked Great Lakes region to
implement a peace plan that could herald a "new era" for millions of
Africans.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2005 Feb 28, Burundians voted on a
new constitution that enshrines Hutu control by allotting them 60% of
parliamentary seats with 40% for Tutsis.
(WSJ, 3/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 13, Burundi began forced
repatriation of thousands of Rwandan refugees, who feared reprisals at
home. The UN condemned the action.
(WSJ, 6/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 4, Burundi's main Hutu
ex-rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD), won a
comfortable victory in legislative elections, taking 58.23% of the vote.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Aug 19, Pierre Nkurunziza
(40), a former Hutu rebel leader, was chosen by lawmakers as Burundi's
president, culminating an internationally mediated effort that hopes to
bring peace to a central African nation wrecked by a dozen years of
ethnic war.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Sep 19, Classrooms and chairs
were scarce at crowded Burundian primary schools as 500,000 children,
nearly double last year's enrollment, showed up for the first day of
classes following the elimination of fees.
(AP, 9/19/05)
2005 Dec 31, A first group of UN
peacekeepers from Mozambique left Burundi as part of a phased
withdrawal of troops that will end in December next year.
(AFP, 12/31/05)
2006 Jan 1, East African leaders
said that millions of people in the region faced hunger because poor
rains had affected vital crops and pasture. Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Somalia and Tanzania faced acute food shortages.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2006 Jan 5, The UN said around
2,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees have arrived in Burundi in the past month,
many saying they feel insecure in Rwanda or are being refused
permission to cultivate their land.
(AP, 1/6/06)
2006 Feb 27, In Burundi a
government official acknowledged that rogue soldiers and police
officers have executed and tortured suspected rebels and civilians.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2006 May 29, Burundi's only
hold-out rebel group began talks with the government in an effort to
end the central African country's 12-year civil war.
(AP, 5/29/06)
2006 Jun 17, Burundi's President
Pierre Nkurunziza left to sign a cease-fire agreement with the
country's last rebel group in neighboring Tanzania as his government
works toward ending a 12-year conflict.
(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 18, Burundi's government
and the country's last rebel group agreed, while meeting in Tanzania,
to end hostilities and sign a comprehensive cease-fire deal in two
weeks.
(AP, 6/19/06)
2006 Jun 30, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to conclude its peacekeeping mission in
Burundi on Dec. 31 and replace it with a UN office to help promote
development and democracy in the central African nation.
(AP, 6/30/06)
2006 Aug 6, In Burundi gunmen
hurled a grenade at a bar frequented by army officers, killing four
people. Authorities said the attack was an attempt to undermine the
government.
(AP, 8/7/06)
2006 Aug 21, Burundi police
arrested former President Domitien Ndayizeye, apparently in connection
with an alleged plot to overthrow the tiny central African country's
government.
(Reuters, 8/21/06)
2006 Sep 5, Burundi Vice-President
Alice Nzomukunda resigned over corruption and human rights abuses that
she says are hampering her nation's progress.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5316690.stm)
2006 Sep 7, Burundi's government
and the country's last rebel group, the National Liberation Forces
(FNL) signed a permanent cease-fire as the central African nation
emerges from 12 years of civil war.
(AP, 9/7/06)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.57)
2006 Oct 17, The United States
said it plans to take in about 10,000 Burundian refugees from Tanzania,
many of whom fled their landlocked nation as far back as 1972.
(Reuters, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 25, A rights group said
Burundi's spy agency has executed 38 people and arbitrarily detained
200 others since the Central African nation's new government came to
power. New York-based Human Rights Watch accused President Pierre
Nkurunziza’s year-old government of failing to prosecute those accused
of extra-judicial killings.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Nov 30, The East African
Community (EAC) said Rwanda and Burundi have been accepted as members,
expanding the regional economic bloc to five nations. The EAC
previously grouped Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, which hoped to transform
the region into a political federation.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 15, In Kenya 11 African
heads of state attending the 2nd International Conference on the Great
Lakes Region signed a landmark $2 billion (1.5-billion-euro) security
and development pact to forestall fresh violence in the area.
(AFP, 12/15/06)
2007 Jan 20, The UN’s food agency
said some 800,000 Burundians face a serious food crisis after
devastating floods ravaged several regions of the tiny central African
nation.
(AP, 1/20/07)
2007 Feb 26, The World Vision
humanitarian group said that more than 50% of children in refugee camps
around Africa's volatile Great Lakes area have experienced some form of
sexual abuse. The data, collected in camps in the Burundi, Congo (DRC),
Tanzania, northern Uganda and Rwanda, said widespread poverty made
children vulnerable to abuses.
(AFP, 2/27/07)
2007 Feb 28, Burundi said that it
will send 1,700 peacekeepers to Somalia as part of an 8,000-strong
African Union force, while the first Ugandan contingent prepared to
leave for the war-torn nation.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Mar 15, Human Rights Watch
released a report that said Children in Burundi suffer serious abuses
in prison, including torture, rape and food shortages, in a criminal
justice system that treats them as adults.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 18, The UN said a first
group of Congolese refugees, who escaped a 2004 massacre at a camp in
Burundi, left for the US to start a program to resettle more than 500
people.
(AFP, 3/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Burundi, Rwanda, the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda adopted a joint military
strategy to fight rebel groups operating in the war-scarred Great Lakes
region.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 May 18, A group of 88
Burundians who have lived as refugees in neighboring Tanzania for up to
35 years became the first of some 8,500 to head to the US for a new
life.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 23, The UN human rights
commissioner said that Burundi has agreed to set up a tribunal to try
people suspected of genocide and war crimes during its 12-year civil
war.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 25, In Burundi 61
countries and international organizations promised 656 million dollars
(488 million euros) during a donors' roundtable in the capital
Bujumbura. The World Bank considers Burundi, where 70% of the
population lives below the poverty line, the world's third-poorest
nation.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 Jun 19, President Jakaya
Kikwete said Tanzania will shut camps housing 150,000 refugees from
Burundi by the end of this year as the war in the neighbouring central
African country is over.
(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jul 21, Jean Berchmans
Ndayshimiye, the military leader of Burundi's last rebel group (FNL),
escaped back to the bush, sparking fears of renewed civil conflict.
(AFP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul, Rwanda and Burundi
became members of the East African Community (EAC), which included
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/17/07)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
2007 Aug 19, Simultaneous grenade
attacks were launched on the homes of five Burundian politicians who
recently criticized the president, injuring three but failing to harm
the targets.
(AFP, 8/19/07)
2007 Aug 28, Africa's Great Lakes
nations (Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda)
vowed to eliminate rebel groups roaming their territory and spurring
insecurity in the continent's most volatile region.
(AFP, 8/28/07)
2007 Sep 11, Six Congolese
soldiers were detained by the Burundian navy for repeatedly attacking
fishing boats on Lake Tanganyika and stealing their catch.
(AFP, 9/12/07)
2007 Oct 16,
Burundi's last active rebel group said it will shun a weekend
meeting to put the central African nation's derailed peace process back
on track as the South African mediator was biased.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Oct 20,
Burundi's last active rebel group was urged to implement a 2006
ceasefire as it boycotted a meeting aimed to put the central African
nation's derailed peace process back on track.
(AFP, 10/20/07)
2007 Nov 14, Burundi's President
Pierre Nkurunziza announced a new unity cabinet drawing members from
two leading opposition groups in a bid to end months of political
deadlock in the troubled African nation.
(AFP, 11/15/07)
2007 Nov 14, The EU reached an
accord with the East African Community (EAC) states of Burundi, Kenya,
Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. They will enjoy duty free, quota free
access to the EU for all products, except sugar and rice, from January
1. Originally established in 1967, the EAC collapsed a decade later
amid diverging economic philosophies. It was resurrected in 2000 as
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda agreed to create an EU-style common market
for their 90 million citizens. Rwanda and Burundi became members in
July this year.
(AP, 11/17/07)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.52)
2007 Dec 23, In Somalia a first
contingent of 100 Burundian peacekeepers deployed in the capital,
joining 1,800 Ugandan troops in an African Union force 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)
2007 Dec 24, In southwestern
Somalia gunmen threw grenades at the home of the regional police chief,
killing two of his grandchildren and a bodyguard but not their target.
Burundi deployed a 2nd contingent of 92 peacekeepers to Mogadishu, to
bolster an African Union force.
(AP, 12/24/07)(AP, 12/25/07)
2008 Jan 20, The final 210 members
of the first battalion of Burundian soldiers to be deployed in Somalia
as part of an African Union peace-keeping force left Bujumbura for
Mogadishu. Burundi is expected to deploy a total of 1,700 soldiers in
Somalia, alongside around 1,600 troops from Uganda who have been in the
capital Mogadishu since March.
(AFP, 1/20/08)
2008 Mar 14, Five Burundi
insurgents and a government soldier were killed in a clash with the
army in the north of the war-wracked central African country's capital.
(AFP, 3/14/08)
2008 Mar 18, The World Food
Program (WFP) made a six million dollar appeal to feed some 90,000
Burundian refugees in Tanzania who expect to return to the central
African country in 2008.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Apr 17, In Burundi suspected
rebels attacked the capital, Bujumbura. A series of attacks killed at
least 17 people.
(AP, 4/18/08)(WSJ, 4/19/08, p.A1)
2008 May 18, In Burundi as the
government and rebels sought unsuccessfully to reach agreement in
negotiations to reinstate a 2006 ceasefire deal, the army attacked
National Liberation Forces (FNL) rebel positions south of Bujumbura.
(AFP, 5/20/08)
2008 May 25, Burundian officials
said the army killed three rebels near the capital over the weekend,
the latest in a series of violent clashes in the central African nation.
(AFP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 26, Burundi's government
and last active rebel group signed an unconditional ceasefire
agreement, raising hopes of a definitive end to the small central
African nation's 15-year civil war.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 May 30, Agathon Rwasa, the
exiled leader of Burundi's last rebel group, returned to the capital to
begin implementing a stalled deal seen as the final obstacle to peace
in the tiny central African country.
(Reuters, 5/30/08)
2008 Jun 8, Burundi's top rebel
leader and the government's chief negotiator pledged to work to end 15
years of civil war as they arrived in South Africa for talks on the
country's peace process.
(AP, 6/8/08)
2008 Jul 16, The United States
signed a pair of agreements to boost trade and investment ties with
countries in southern and eastern Africa. These included the Trade,
Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement with the Southern
Africa Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia,
South Africa and Swaziland; and the Trade Investment and Framework
Agreement (TIFA) with the East African Community, which includes
Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Oct 14, Burundi said it has
completed its deployment of another 850 soldiers to Somalia, bringing
to about 3,400 the total number of African Union peacekeepers stationed
there. Burundi had already deployed some 850 soldiers to Somalia as
part of AMISOM (African mission in Somalia).
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 16, Around one million
Burundian children under the age of five suffer chronic malnutrition,
the UN food agency announced as it marked World Food Day in the tiny
central African nation.
(AP, 10/16/08)
2008 Nov 17, In Somalia witnesses
said African Union (AU) peacekeepers from Burundi have started moving
into positions usually manned by Ethiopian troops in the capital
Mogadishu, as part of the ongoing Djibouti peace process.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 22, Burundi's parliament
adopted a new set of laws abolishing the death penalty for the first
time in the troubled central African country.
(AP, 11/22/08)
2008 Dec 2, A Burundi soldier
serving with African Union forces in Somalia was killed in fighting
with Islamist insurgents in the war-torn capital Mogadishu.
(AFP, 12/3/08)
2008 Dec 4, In Burundi a summit
was held in Bujumbura stating the position of the Great Lakes region on
the implementation of the peace agreements signed at the Dar es Salaam
summit of 2006 in Tanzania.
(http://allafrica.com/stories/200812040216.html)
2009 Jan 2, In Burundi an
8-year-old albino boy was hacked to death in front of his mother and
made off with his arms and legs. The body parts of a single albino, to
be used in witch doctor potions, fetched about $1000. This attack
followed another on a 6-year-old girl.
(Econ, 1/17/09, p.50)
2009 Mar 13, In Burundi an albino
man was murdered and dismembered overnight by suspected smugglers with
links to Tanzanian witch doctors, the fourth such case in a month in
the central African nation.
(AFP, 3/13/09)
2009 Jul 24, Burundi army
officials said 3 of its soldiers serving with African Union
peacekeepers in Somalia have died of a mysterious illness in a Kenyan
hospital where more than 10 others are being treated.
(AFP, 7/24/09)
2009 Aug 1, Burundi said it has
deployed a third battalion of 850 soldiers to Mogadishu to reinforce
the African Union peacekeeping mission there. With the new troops, more
than 5,000 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda are now taking part in the
AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which began in March 2007 and has cost
the lives of 17 Burundian soldiers.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Burundi 2 days of
clashes began as government forces fired live rounds in the air to
deter hundreds of Congolese refugees from returning home. Some 900
refugees had decided to return home on foot rather than be transferred
to a new camp further away from the border with Democratic Republic of
Congo.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 23, Somali Islamist
rebels threatened to attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda, the two
central African countries that have deployed peacekeeping troops to
prop up Somali's transitional government.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Tanzania members
of the East Africa Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda)
signed a common market agreement in Arusha, headquarters of the EAC.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/21/content_12513712.htm)
2009 Nov 30, Interpol and the
Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3 months
had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer
dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of illegal
elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the wildlife
authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Dec 30, In Burundi the last
South African soldiers from the African Union Special Task Force still
operating in Burundi completed their mission and left the country for
good to return to South Africa.
(AFP, 12/31/09)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Burundi
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