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Friday 29th March
Burundi Facts
The highest point in Burundi is Mount Heha (2,670 m).

The lowest point in Burundi is Lake Tanganyika (772 m).

Burundi is one of the smallest countries in Africa.

The Twa (a Pygmy people) were the first of Burundi's ethnic groups to inhabit the region.

Hutu people settled in Burundi some time around the eleventh century.

Tutsu people migrated to the region around the fifteenth century.

European explorers and missionaries arrived in Burundi in the mid 1850s.

In 1890 Burundi (Urundi) and Rwanda (Ruanda) formed part of German East Africa.

After the First World War, Burundi became part of Ruanda-Urundi, the League of Nations Trust Territory, administered by Belgium.

Prince Louis Rwagasore, who led a multi-ethnic political party, was assassinated in 1961.

In 1962 Ruanda-Urundi separated and Urundi became known as the Kingdom of Burundi.

Melchior Ndadaye, the first democratically elected president, was assassinated in 1993.

Civil war, lasting over ten years, began in 1993.

In 1994 the presidents of Burundi and Rwanda were both killed when their plane was shot down over Rwanda.

Bujumbura was the capital but in 2019 the capital moved to Gitega although Bujumbura remains the commercial capital.

An agreement to end the civil war in Burundi was signed in 2003.

African leaders involved in the peace process between ethnic groups in Burundi included Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

A United Nations peacekeeping force arrived in Burundi in 2004.

In 2007 The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi renamed their regional economic union, The Great Lakes Countries Economic Community.

President Nkurunziza won a third term in the presidential election in July 2015.

March 2016 saw the European Union suspending direct financial aid to Burundi.

In 2020 the former Hutu rebel leader Evariste Ndayishimiye became president.

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