Laurent Kavakure (born January 5, 1959) is a Burundian diplomat and politician who served the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burundi from November 2011 to May 2015.
Kavakure was born in Tangara, Ngozi Province. He was Burundi's Ambassador to Belgium from 2006 to 2010. [1] [2]
Kavakure was dismissed from his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs on May 18, 2015, shortly after a failed coup attempt during the 2015 Burundian unrest, which started after President Pierre Nkurunziza stated he wished to run for office a third time. [3] Observers stated that his dismissal might be due to Kavakure failing to convince other states to support the 2015 presidential elections. [4]
The BurundiNational Defence Force is the state military organisation responsible for the defence of Burundi.
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.
Michel Micombero was a Burundian politician and army officer who ruled the country as its first president and de facto military dictator for the decade between 1966 and 1976.
Pierre Buyoya was a Burundian army officer and politician who served two terms as President of Burundi in 1987 to 1993 and 1996 to 2003 as de facto military dictator. He was the second-longest serving president in Burundian history.
Sylvestre Ntibantunganya is a Burundian politician. He was President of the National Assembly of Burundi from 23 December 1993 to 30 September 1994, and President of Burundi from 6 April 1994 to 25 July 1996.
Jean-Baptiste Bagaza was a Burundian army officer and politician who ruled Burundi as president and de facto military dictator from November 1976 to September 1987.
The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party elections in the country since its independence from Belgium in 1962, and is seen as formally ending with the swearing-in of President Pierre Nkurunziza in August 2005. Children were widely used by both sides in the war. The estimated death toll stands at 300,000.
Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge. 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 of which is the country's largest city.
On 25 April 2015, the ruling political party in Burundi, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), announced that the incumbent President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, would run for a third term in the 2015 presidential election. The announcement sparked protests by those opposed to Nkurunziza seeking a third term in office.
On 13 May 2015, army general Godefroid Niyombare said that he was "dismissing President Pierre Nkurunziza" following the 2015 Burundian unrest. However, the presidency tweeted that the "situation is under control" and there is "no coup".
Godefroid Niyombare is a Burundian military officer who led a coup attempt against President Pierre Nkurunziza on 13 May 2015. At the time of the coup attempt, Niyombare was a Major General. He previously served as military chief of staff and as Burundi's Ambassador to Kenya, and he was head of the National Intelligence Service from December 2014, when he replaced Adolphe Nshimirimana, until February 2015, when he was dismissed by Nkurunziza and replaced by Major-General Moïse Pasteur Bucumi.
Pontien Gaciyubwenge is a Burundian politician and soldier. He served as Minister of National Defence in the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza from 30 August 2010 until he was fired on 18 May 2015, after a failed coup d'état took place.
On 28 November 1966, Michel Micombero, Burundi's 26-year-old Prime Minister, ousted the 19-year-old king (mwami) of Burundi, Ntare V, in a coup d'état. Ntare was out of the country at the time and the coup leaders quickly succeeded in taking control. Micombero declared an end to the monarchy and the Kingdom of Burundi became a republic with Micombero as its first President.
Burundi–India relations refers to the international relations that exist between Burundi and India. Apart from bilateral relations, India also engages with Burundi through the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs).
The Ikiza or the Ubwicanyi (Killings) was a series of mass killings—often characterised as a genocide—which were committed in Burundi in 1972 by the Tutsi-dominated army and government, primarily against educated and elite Hutus who lived in the country. Conservative estimates place the death toll of the event between 100,000 and 150,000 killed, while some estimates of the death toll go as high as 300,000.
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.
Gilles Bimazubute was a Burundian politician.
Bernard Ciza was a Burundian politician. Originating from Bururi Province, he became a leading member of the Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi (FRODEBU) and in 1993 became Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Social Affairs under Prime Minister Sylvie Kinigi. He survived the coup attempt of October 1993 and in February 1994 became Minister of State for Development Planning and Reconstruction. He died later that year when the plane on which he was traveling was shot down over Kigali.