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Burundi: Congo Basin
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In the early 14th century, the Hutu arrived, probably from the Congo Basin, and imposed their language and customs on the Twa, who are believed to be Burundi’s original inhabitants. The development of an organized kingdom began in the 15th century, when the Tutsi, probably migrating from the north, established themselves as feudal rulers. Tutsi kings, or mwamis, became monarchs of distinct kingdoms in Burundi and Rwanda. Their rule was enforced by chiefs and subchiefs, who each ruled an umusozi, a fiefdom consisting of a single hill. Political and economic relations were based on an unequal feudal relationship, known as the ubugabire system, in which most Hutu became serfs subjugated by and economically dependent on the Tutsi. However, Burundi’s economic and sociopolitical structures were not as rigid as those of Rwanda.
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Disaster occurred in 2004 when the Hutu rebel group, Forces of National Liberation (FNL), claimed responsibility for killing 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees in a United Nations camp near the Congo border in Burundi. The attack was strongly condemned by the U.N. Security Council, which issued a statement of outrage at the fact that “most of the victims were women, children and babies who were shot dead and burned in their shelters.” citation The Council called on the top U.N. envoy in Burundi to investigate the incident with a U.N. representative from Congo, a step that increased U.N. intervention in the Burundi civil war.
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International inter-university program (based in Geneva, Switzerland) to collect "grey literature" on the economic, social, and political aspects of Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Congo-Kinshasa. The documents, on cd-rom, are sold thru subscription. http://www.grandslacs.net/index.html
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