Ernest Kabushemeye (died March 11, 1995) was a Burundian politician and the Minister for Mines and Energy department. [1] He led the Rally for the People of Burundi (RPB), legalized as a political party in 1992, and held several government positions before being assassinated on 11 March 1995. [1]
His motto was "Nturenganywe" meaning "don't get your rights stomped on". He was a fighter of democracy. [2]
The BurundiNational Defence Force is the state military organisation responsible for the defence of Burundi.
Burundi's relations with its neighbours 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 are in neighboring countries as a result of the ongoing civil war. Most of them, more than 340,000 since 1993, are in Tanzania. Some Burundian rebel groups have used neighboring countries as bases for insurgent activities. The 1993 embargo placed on Burundi by regional states hurt diplomatic relations with its neighbors; relations have improved since the 1999 suspension of these sanctions.
Burundi originated in the 16th century as a small kingdom in the African Great Lakes region. After European contact, it was united with the Kingdom of Rwanda, becoming the colony of Ruanda-Urundi - first colonised by Germany and then by Belgium. The colony gained independence in 1962, and split once again into Rwanda and Burundi. It is one of the few countries in Africa to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state.
Cyprien Ntaryamira was a Burundian politician who served as President of Burundi from 5 February 1994 until his death two months later. A Hutu born in Burundi, Ntaryamira studied there before fleeing to Rwanda to avoid ethnic violence and complete his education. Active in a Burundian student movement, he cofounded the socialist Burundi Workers' Party and earned an agricultural degree. In 1983, he returned to Burundi and worked agricultural jobs, though he was briefly detained as a political prisoner. In 1986 he cofounded the Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU), and in 1993 FRODEBU won Burundi's general elections. He subsequently became the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry on 10 July, but in October Tutsi soldiers killed the president and other top officials in an attempted coup.
Burundi is divided into eighteen provinces, each named after their respective capital with the exception of Bujumbura Rural.
The National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy is the major political party in Burundi. During the Burundian Civil War, the CNDD–FDD was the most significant rebel group active and became a major political party in Burundi. The party's rule has been described as authoritarian.
Pierre Nkurunziza was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020.
Gitega is one of the 18 provinces of Burundi. Its capital is Gitega, which is also the national capital. It has a population of 725,223 as of 2008 and an area of 1,979 square kilometres (764 sq mi).
The University of Burundi is a public university located in Bujumbura, Burundi. Founded in 1964, it comprises eight faculties and five institutes and has a student enrollment of approximately 13,000. It is based in three campuses in Bujumbura and a fourth in Gitega. It took its current name in 1977 and is Burundi's only publicly funded university.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Burundi face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT citizens. While never criminalized before 2009, Burundi has since criminalized same-sex sexual activity by both men and women with a penalty up to two years in prison and a fine. LGBT persons are regularly prosecuted and persecuted by the government and additionally face stigmatisation among the broader population.
The Supreme Court is the highest civil and criminal court in Burundi. It has nine members, including the Court President, who are nominated by the Judicial Service Commission and appointed by the President of the Republic after the approval of the Senate. The court's president is referred to as the Chief Justice.
Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and East Africa. It is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; Lake Tanganyika lies along its southwestern border. The capital cities are Gitega and Bujumbura, the latter being the country's largest city.
Burundi is one of the poorest African countries, burdened by a high prevalence of communicable, maternal, neonatal, nutritional, and non-communicable diseases. The burden of communicable diseases generally outweighs the burden of other diseases. Mothers and children are among those most vulnerable to this burden.
In 2022, Freedom House rated Burundi's human rights at 14 out 100.
Pascal Nyabenda is a Burundian politician, who serves as President of the National Assembly of Burundi since 2015. He has been president of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy since March 2012 and previously served as Governor of Bubanza Province.
On 8 July 1966, a coup d'état took place in the Kingdom of Burundi. The second in Burundi's post-independence history, the coup ousted the government loyal to the king (mwami) of Burundi, Mwambutsa IV, who had gone into exile in October 1965 after the failure of an earlier coup d'état.
On 21 October 1993, a coup was attempted in Burundi by a Tutsi–dominated army faction. The coup attempt resulted in assassination of Hutu President Melchior Ndadaye and the deaths of other officials in the constitutional line of presidential succession. François Ngeze was presented as the new President of Burundi by the army, but the coup failed under domestic and international pressure, leaving Prime Minister Sylvie Kinigi in charge of the government.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Burundi is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Burundi on 25 March 2020.
General Évariste Ndayishimiye is a Burundian politician who has served as the tenth President of Burundi since 18 June 2020. He became involved in the rebel National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy during the Burundian Civil War and rose up the ranks of its militia. At the end of the conflict, he entered the Burundian Army and held a number of political offices under the auspices of President Pierre Nkurunziza. Nkurunziza endorsed Ndayishimiye as his successor ahead of the 2020 elections which he won with a large majority.