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Burundi: Countries
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Burundi has been desecrated by bloody battles, civil unrest, and mass murdering since it gained independence. The Hutus constitute 85 percent of the population, but have historically been dominated by the minority Tutsis. In 1972, the Tutsis organized genocide against the Hutus, killing 100,000 Hutus and moderate Tutsis all together. Despite the assassinations of nine leaders, fighting remained minimal in the country for the next 30 years until the first democratically elected president, a Hutu named Melchior Ndadaye, was killed by Tutsi paratroopers in 1993.
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Since independence, with the exception of one short period in the 1990s, Burundi has been ruled by Tutsi dominated governments. The Tutsi form a minority (approximately 14%) of the population, and successive governments have maintained their domination over the Hutu majority (approximately 85% of the population) by ensuring their “near exclusion […] from public life, knowledge and wealth” (Reyntjens, 1993: 563). In this sense, Burundi has provided a mirror-image to neighbouring Rwanda. There the Hutu majority (the proportions of both groups are broadly similar in both countries) has dominated the Tutsi for most of the period since the revolution of 1961 and the break-up of Ruanda-Urundi (Lemarchand, 1970). But despite this difference in the balance of power between both groups, the post-independence history of both states has been equally grisly.
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The Republic of Burundi is a small country in the Great Lakes region of Africa. It is bordered by ► Rwanda on the north, ► Tanzania on the south and east, and the ► Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west. Although the country is landlocked, much of its western border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika. The country's modern name is derived from its Bantu language, Kirundi. Geographically isolated, facing population pressures and having sparse resources, Burundi is one of the poorest and most conflict-ridden countries in Africa and in the world. Its small size belies the magnitude of the problems it faces in reconciling the claims of the Tutsi minority with the Hutu majority.
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Situated in the heart of Africa, Burundi is one of the very few African countries possessing linguistic homogeneity. Its people all speak the same national language, Kirundi, the medium of expression of Burundi’s centuries-old cultural heritage. French is the first foreign language, which became an administrative language. English is progressively getting important because of the opening of the country to the business world and the international market. Swahili, a trade language above all, is spoken in the cities and along Tanganika Lake.
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Burundi (IPA: /bəˈɹʊndɪ/), officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small country in the Great Lakes region of Africa. The former name was Urundi. Urundi is the shortened form of "Urundi Rwanda" ("The other Rwanda"), as the Belgian colonial powers formerly referred to the territory. It is bordered by Rwanda on the north, Tanzania on the south and east, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west. Although the country is landlocked, much of its western border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika. The country's modern name is derived from its Bantu language, Kirundi.
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Burundi was one of the first countries in Africa to decide to use ACT to treat malaria. This decision to introduce ACT by July 2003 was made in July 2002, after intense pressure from organizations such as MSF (who refused to treat malaria patients in Burundi with older drugs that were no longer effective), and after funds were pledged via UNICEF, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) and the Belgian government. The government's decision now seems to have been the easy part. Turning it into everyday reality has proven difficult, with actual use of ACT only now being envisaged for sometime in late 2003. Why has it taken so long? Implementation of ACT, after all the effort to lobby for its acceptance, has been slowed by dif.
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