About the CBI

October 2005
 Background Note: Burundi

Flag of Burundi is divided by a white diagonal cross into red panels (top and
bottom) and green panels (hoist side and outer side) with a white disk
superimposed at the center bearing three red six-pointed stars outlined in
green arranged in a triangular design (one star above, two stars below).

PROFILE

OFFICIAL NAME:
Republic of Burundi

Geography
Location: Central Africa. Bordering nations--Tanzania, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Rwanda.
Area: 27,830 sq. km. (10,747 sq. mi.); about the size of Maryland.
Cities: Capital--Bujumbura (pop. 300,000). Other cities--Cibitoke, Muyinga,
Ngozi, Bubanza, Gitega, Bururi.
Climate: Warm but not uncomfortable in Bujumbura; cooler in higher regions.
Terrain: Hilly, rising from 780 meters (2,600 ft.) at the Shore of Lake
Tanganyika to mountains more than 2,700 meters (9,000 ft.) above sea level.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Burundian(s).
Population (2004 est.): 6.8 million.
Annual growth rate (2004 est.): 2.2%.
Ethnic groups (estimated): Hutu 85%; Tutsi 14%; Twa 1.0%.
Religions (estimated): Roman Catholic 60%-65%; Protestant 10%-15%;
traditional beliefs 15%-20%; Muslim 5%.
Languages: Official--Kirundi, French; other--Kiswahili, English.
Education: Years compulsory--6. Attendance--84.05% male, 62.8% female.
Literacy--37% adult.
Health (2004 est.): Life expectancy--42.73 yrs. (men), 44 yrs. (women).
Infant mortality rate--70.4/1,000.

Government
Type: Republic; democratically elected, post-transition government
established August 26, 2005.
Independence: July 1, 1962 (from Belgium).
Constitution: A transitional constitution was adopted October 18, 2001. The
parliament adopted a post-transition constitution on September 17, 2004,
which was approved in a nation-wide referendum held February 28, 2005.
Branches: Executive--President, First Vice President in charge of political
and administrative affairs, Second Vice President in charge of social and
economic affairs, 20-member Council of Ministers. Legislative--A 100-member
directly elected National Assembly plus additional deputies appointed as
necessary (currently 18 appointed) to ensure an ethnic and gender composition
of 60% Hutu, 40% Tutsi, 30% female, and 3 Batwa members. A 54-member Senate
(3 seats reserved for former presidents; 3 seats reserved for the ethnic Twa
minority; 2 Senators, one Hutu and one Tutsi, from each of the 16 provinces
plus the city of Bujumbura appointed by an electoral college comprised of
members of locally elected communal and provincial councils; 14 Senators
appointed by the president according to his own criteria. Women must comprise
30% of the Senate.) Judicial--constitutional and subsidiary courts.
Administrative subdivisions: 16 provinces plus the city of Bujumbura, 117
communes.
Political parties: Multi-party system consisting of 21 registered political
parties, of which CNDD (the National Council for the Defense of Democracy,
Hutu), FRODEBU (the Front for Democracy in Burundi, predominantly Hutu with
some Tutsi membership), and UPRONA (the National Unity and Progress Party,
predominantly Tutsi with some Hutu membership) are national, mainstream
parties. Other Tutsi and Hutu opposition parties and groups include, among
others, PARENA (the Party for National Redress, Tutsi), ABASA (the Burundi
African Alliance for the Salvation, Tutsi), PRP (the People's Reconciliation
Party, Tutsi), PALIPEHUTU (the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People,
Hutu) and FROLINA/FAP (the Front for the National Liberation of Burundi/
Popular Armed Forces, Hutu).
Suffrage: Universal adult.

Economy
GDP (2003): $595 million; (2004 est.) $668 million.
Real growth rate (2003): -0.5%; (2004 est.) 5.4%.
Per capita GDP (2003): $87.3; (2004 est.) $96.
Inflation rate (2003): 10.7%; (2004 est.) 9.1%.
Central government budget: Receipts--(2003) $135.2 million; (2004 est.)
$138.9 million; spending--(2003) $169.4 million; (2004 est.) $212.9 million.
Natural resources: Nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper,
platinum deposits not yet exploited, vanadium.
Agriculture (2003, 47.4% of GDP): Products--coffee, tea, sugar, cotton
fabrics and oil, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca),
beef, milk, hides, livestock feed, rice. Arable land--44%.
Industry (2003, 19.3% of GDP): Types--beverage production, coffee and tea
processing, cigarette production, sugar refining, pharmaceuticals, light food
processing, textiles, chemicals (insecticides), public works construction,
consumer goods, assembly of imported components.
Services (2003): 33.3% of GDP.
Mining: Commercial quantities of alluvial gold, nickel, phosphates, rare
earth, vanadium, and other; peat mining.
Trade (2003 est.): Exports--$46.8 million: coffee (50% of export earnings),
tea, sugar, cotton fabrics, hides. Major markets--U.K., Germany, Benelux,
Switzerland. Imports--$127.5 million: food, beverages, tobacco, chemicals,
road vehicles, petroleum and products. Major suppliers--Benelux, France,
Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan.
Total external debt (2003 est.): $1.2 billion.

PEOPLE
At 206.1 persons per sq. km., Burundi has the second-largest population
density in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most people live on farms near areas of
fertile volcanic soil. The population is made up of three major ethnic
groups--Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. Kirundi is the most widely spoken language;
French and Kiswahili also are widely spoken. Intermarriage takes place
frequently between the Hutus and Tutsis. Although Hutus encompass the
majority of the population, historically Tutsis have been politically and
economically dominant.

HISTORY
In the 16th century, Burundi was a kingdom characterized by a hierarchical
political authority and tributary economic exchange. A king (mwani) headed a
princely aristocracy (ganwa) which owned most of the land and required a
tribute, or tax, from local farmers and herders. In the mid-18th century,
this Tutsi royalty consolidated authority over land, production, and
distribution with the development of the ubugabire--a patron-client
relationship in which the populace received royal protection in exchange for
tribute and land tenure.

Although European explorers and missionaries made brief visits to the area as
early as 1856, it was not until 1899 that Burundi came under German East
African administration. In 1916 Belgian troops occupied the area. In 1923,
the League of Nations mandated to Belgium the territory of Ruanda-Urundi,
encompassing modern-day Rwanda and Burundi. The Belgians administered the
territory through indirect rule, building on the Tutsi-dominated aristocratic
hierarchy. Following World War II, Ruanda-Urundi became a United Nations
Trust Territory under Belgian administrative authority. After 1948, Belgium
permitted the emergence of competing political parties. Two political parties
emerged: the Union for National Progress (UPRONA), a multi-ethnic party led
by Tutsi Prince Louis Rwagasore and the Christian Democratic Party (PDC)
supported by Belgium. In 1961, Prince Rwagasore was assassinated following an
UPRONA victory in legislative elections.

Full independence was achieved on July 1, 1962. In the context of weak
democratic institutions at independence, Tutsi King Mwambutsa IV established
a constitutional monarchy comprising equal numbers of Hutus and Tutsis. The
1965 assassination of the Hutu prime minister set in motion a series of
destabilizing Hutu revolts and subsequent governmental repression. In 1966,
King Mwambutsa was deposed by his son, Prince Ntare IV, who himself was
deposed the same year by a military coup lead by Capt. Michel Micombero.
Micombero abolished the monarchy and declared a republic, although a de facto
military regime emerged. In 1972, an aborted Hutu rebellion triggered the
flight of hundreds of thousands of Burundians. Civil unrest continued
throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In 1976, Col. Jean-Baptiste Bagaza took power in a bloodless coup. Although
Bagaza led a Tutsi-dominated military regime, he encouraged land reform,
electoral reform, and national reconciliation. In 1981, a new constitution
was promulgated. In 1984, Bagaza was elected head of state, as the sole
candidate. After his election, Bagaza's human rights record deteriorated as
he suppressed religious activities and detained political opposition members.

In 1987, Maj. Pierre Buyoya overthrew Colonel Bagaza. He dissolved opposition
parties, suspended the 1981 constitution, and instituted his ruling Military
Committee for National Salvation (CSMN). During 1988, increasing tensions
between the ruling Tutsis and the majority Hutus resulted in violent
confrontations between the army, the Hutu opposition, and Tutsi hardliners.
During this period, an estimated 150,000 people were killed, with tens of
thousands of refugees flowing to neighboring countries. Buyoya formed a
commission to investigate the causes of the 1988 unrest and to develop a
charter for democratic reform.

In 1991, Buyoya approved a constitution that provided for a president,
multi-ethnic government, and a parliament. Burundi's first Hutu president,
Melchior Ndadaye, of the Hutu-dominated FRODEBU Party, was elected in 1993.
He was assassinated by factions of the Tutsi-dominated armed forces in
October 1993. The country was then plunged into civil war, which killed tens
of thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands by the time the
FRODEBU government regained control and elected Cyprien Ntaryamira president
in January 1994. Nonetheless, the security situation continued to
deteriorate. In April 1994, President Ntayamira and Rwandan President Juvenal
Habyarimana died in a plane crash. This act marked the beginning of the
Rwandan genocide, while in Burundi, the death of Ntaryamira exacerbated the
violence and unrest. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya was installed as president for
a 4-year term on April 8, but the security situation further deteriorated.
The influx of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees and the activities of
armed Hutu and Tutsi groups further destabilized the regime.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS
In November 1995, the presidents of Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zaire
announced a regional initiative for a negotiated peace in Burundi facilitated
by former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. In July 1996, former Burundian
President Buyoya returned to power in a bloodless coup. He declared himself
president of a transitional republic, even as he suspended the National
Assembly, banned opposition groups, and imposed a nationwide curfew.
Widespread condemnation of the coup ensued, and regional countries imposed
economic sanctions pending a return to a constitutional government. Buyoya
agreed in 1996 to liberalize political parties. Nonetheless, fighting between
the army and Hutu militias continued. In June 1998, Buyoya promulgated a
transitional constitution and announced a partnership between the government
and the opposition-led National Assembly. After Facilitator Julius Nyerere's
death in October 1999, the regional leaders appointed Nelson Mandela as
Facilitator of the Arusha peace process. Under Mandela the faltering peace
process was revived, leading to the signing of the Arusha Accords in August
2000 by representatives of the principal Hutu (G-7) and Tutsi (G-10)
political parties, the government, and the National Assembly. However, the
FDD and FNL armed factions of the CNDD and Palipehutu G-7 parties refused to
accept the Arusha Accords, and the armed rebellion continued.

In November 2001, a 3-year transitional government was established under the
leadership of Pierre Buyoya (representing the G-10) as transitional president
and Domitien Ndayizeye (representing the G-7) as transitional vice president
for an initial period of 18 months. In May 2003, Mr. Ndayizeye assumed the
presidency for 18 months with Alphonse Marie Kadege as vice president. In
October and November 2003 the Burundian government and the former rebel group
the CNDD-FDD signed cease-fire and power-sharing agreements, and in March
2004 members of the CNDD-FDD took offices in the government and parliament.
The World Bank and other bilateral donors have provided financing for
Burundi's disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program for former
rebel combatants.

National and regional mediation efforts failed to reach a compromise on
post-transition power-sharing arrangements between the predominantly Hutu and
Tutsi political parties, and in September 2004 over two-thirds of the
parliament--despite a boycott by the Tutsi parties--approved a
post-transition constitution. The Arusha Peace Agreement called for local and
national elections to be held before the conclusion of the transitional
period on October 31, 2004. On October 20, 2004, however, a joint session of
the National Assembly and Senate adopted a previously approved draft
constitution as an interim constitution that provides for an extension of
transitional institutions until elections are held. On February 28, 2005,
Burundians overwhelmingly approved a post-transitional constitution in a
popular referendum, setting the stage for local and national elections. In
April 2005, Burundi's transitional government was again extended and an
electoral calendar was established at a regional summit held in Uganda.

In accordance with the new electoral calendar, the Burundian people voted in
Commune Council direct elections on June 3, 2005 and National Assembly direct
elections on July 4, 2005. An electoral college of commune and provincial
councils indirectly elected Senate members on July 29, 2005. A joint session
of the parliament elected Pierre Nkurunziza as President of Burundi on August
19, 2005 in a vote of 151 to 9 with one abstention, establishing the
post-transition government. Finally, the Burundian people established Colline
(hill) councils through direct elections on September 23, 2005.

Principal Government Officials
President--Pierre Nkurunziza
First Vice President--Martin Nduwimana
Second Vice President--Alice Nzomukunda
Speaker of the National Assembly--Immaculee Nahayo
President of the Senate--Gervais Rufiyikiri
Minister of Defense--Germain Niyoyankana
Minister of External Relations and Cooperation--Antoinette Batumubwira
Minister of Interior and Public Security--Ntacobamaze Salvator
Ambassador to the United States--Antoine Ntamobwa

Burundi maintains an embassy in the United States at Suite 212, 2233
Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20007 (tel. 202-342-2574).

ECONOMY
The mainstay of the Burundian economy is agriculture, accounting for 47% of
GDP in 2003. Agriculture supports more than 90% of the labor force, the
majority of whom are subsistence farmers. Although Burundi is potentially
self-sufficient in food production, the civil war, overpopulation, and soil
erosion have contributed to the contraction of the subsistence economy by 30%
in recent years. Large numbers of internally displaced persons have been
unable to produce their own food and are dependent on international
humanitarian assistance. Burundi is a net food importer, with food accounting
for 13% of imports in 2003.

The main cash crop is coffee, which accounted for some 50% of exports in
2003. This dependence on coffee has increased Burundi's vulnerability to
fluctuations in seasonal yields and international coffee prices. Coffee
processing is the largest state-owned enterprise in terms of income. Although
the government has tried to attract private investment to this sector, plans
for the privatization of this sector have stalled. Efforts to privatize other
publicly held enterprises have likewise stalled. Other principal exports
include tea, sugar, and raw cotton. Coffee production, after a severe drop in
2003, returned to normal levels in 2004. Revenues from coffee production and
exports are likewise estimated to return to pre-2003 levels.

Little industry exists except the processing of agricultural exports.
Although potential wealth in petroleum, nickel, copper, and other natural
resources is being explored, the uncertain security situation has prevented
meaningful investor interest. Industrial development also is hampered by
Burundi's distance from the sea and high transport costs. Lake Tanganyika
remains an important trading point. The trade embargo, lifted in 1999,
negatively impacted trade and industry.

Burundi is heavily dependent on bilateral and multilateral aid, with external
debt totaling $1.2 billion in 2003. A series of largely unsuccessful 5-year
plans initiated in July 1986 in partnership with the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) attempted to reform the foreign exchange
system, liberalize imports, reduce restrictions on international
transactions, diversify exports, and reform the coffee industry.

IMF structural adjustment programs in Burundi were suspended following the
outbreak of the crisis in 1993; the IMF re-engaged Burundi in 2002 and 2003
with post-conflict credits, and in 2004 approved a $104 million Poverty
Reduction and Growth Facility loan. The World Bank is preparing a Transition
Support Strategy, and has identified key areas for potential growth,
including the productivity of traditional crops and the introduction of new
exports, light manufactures, industrial mining, and services. Both the IMF
and the World Bank are assisting the Burundians to prepare a Poverty
Reduction Strategy Paper. Serious economic problems include the state's role
in the economy, the question of governmental transparency, and debt
reduction.

Burundi was not eligible for trade benefits under the African Growth and
Opportunity Act in 2003.

To protest the 1996 coup by President Buyoya, neighboring countries imposed
an economic embargo on Burundi. Although the embargo was never officially
ratified by the UN Security Council, most countries refrained from official
trade with Burundi. Following the 1996 coup, the United States suspended all
but humanitarian aid to Burundi. The regional embargo was lifted on January
23, 1999, based on progress by the government in advancing national
reconciliation through the Burundi peace process.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Burundi's relations with its neighbors have often been affected by security
concerns. Hundreds of thousands of Burundian refugees have at various times
crossed to neighboring Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Hundreds of thousands of Burundians fled to neighboring countries
during the civil war. Most of them, more than 750,000 since 1993, are in
Tanzania. The 1993 embargo placed on Burundi by regional states negatively
impacted its diplomatic relations with its neighbors; relations have improved
since the 1999 suspension of these sanctions.

Burundi is a member of various international and regional organizations,
including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the African
Union, and the African Development Bank, and became a member of COMESA, the
free-tariff zone of eastern and southern Africa, in 2004.

U.S.-BURUNDI RELATIONS
U.S. Government goals in Burundi are to help the people of Burundi realize a
just and lasting peace based upon democratic principles and sustainable
economic development. The United States encourages political stability,
democratic change, respect for human rights, and economic development in
Burundi. The United States supported the Arusha peace process, and has
supported the regional efforts to mediate post-transition power-sharing
negotiations between the Burundian political parties. In the long term, the
United States seeks to strengthen the process of internal reconciliation and
democratization within all the states of the region to promote a stable,
democratic community of nations that will work toward mutual social,
economic, and security interests on the continent.

The United States provided financial support for the peace process, including
through our assessed contributions to a UN peacekeeping force established in
2004. U.S. bilateral aid, with the exception of humanitarian assistance, was
ended following the 1996 coup.

The State Department most recently issued a Travel Warning for Burundi in
December 2004.

Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--James Yellin
Deputy Chief of Mission--Alex Laskaris
Economic Officer--Robert Marks
Political Officer--Christopher Leslie
Management Officer--Judes Stellingwerf
Consular Officers--Robert Marks and Christopher Leslie
Regional Security Officer--Daniel Mahanty
General Service Officer--Matthew Blong

The U.S. Embassy is located at Avenue des Etats Unis (Boite Postale 1720),
Bujumbura (tel. [257] 22-34-54).