Geography: The Republic of Burundi

Burundi is the southern neighbor to Rwanda, both countries are relatively small yet not amongst the smallest countries in the world or even those in Africa. According to Worldometer there are 12,719,092 million people living in Burundi. The most populous city in Burundi is Bujumbura, the capital city with a million inhabitants.

Burundi is one of the African countries which borders weren’t determined by the colonial masters. The main tribes are the Hutu and Tutsi people and there is sadly often times conflict between the two groups. Burundi gained independence from Belgium in 1962. At first it was joined with Rwanda and named Ruanda-Urundi.

Source: TB Obwoge Medium

The vast majority of Burundi’s population is Hutu, traditionally a farming people. Power, however, has long rested with the Tutsi minority, which historically has controlled the army and most of the economy, particularly the lucrative international export of coffee. Few real cultural differences are distinguishable between the two peoples, and both speak Rundi (Kirundi). Such linguistic homogeneity is rare in sub-Saharan Africa and emphasizes the historically close cultural and ethnic ties among the peoples in Burundi.

Even so, ethnic conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi has plagued the country since it gained independence from Belgium in 1962, at a great cost in human life and property. Few Burundians escaped the ensuing anarchy into which the country was plunged when this interethnic violence flared anew in the 1990s, a bloody conflagration that well illustrated the Rundi proverb “Do not call for lightning to strike down your enemies, for it also may strike down your friends.” Neither the presence of an international peacekeeping force beginning in the late 1990s nor the ratification of an agreement to share power between Hutu and Tutsi were immediately effective in curbing interethnic violence, which also spilled into the neighbouring countries of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Burundians are now faced with the task of quelling ethnic dissent, promoting unity, and rebuilding the country.

Source: Britannica

The country is largely Christian with a small Muslim population. The languages spoken are Rundi (Kirundi), along with French and Swahili. Oddly enough Rundi is spoken by both the Hutu and Tutsi people who make up the country’s largest ethnic groups of people. Even though Hutu make up the larger portion of the population within the country, same in Rwanda as they’re 84% of the population. There are even Hutu in the DR Congo as well. The third ethnic group is the Twa people of Burundi.

Burundi is labeled as the poorest country in the world and much of it is blamed on internal conflict.

Burundi’s GDP had been battered badly during the civil war, which ended in 2005. It was on the rise for ten years from 2005 to 2014. Following the Nkurunziza-instigated political crisis in 2015 the economy dipped sharply again. Ranked second poorest country in the world in 2013 and 2014, it fell to the poorest in 2015 and has remained there ever since. The UN Human Development Index, which measures longevity, education and inequality, also attests to this deterioration. Burundi was ranked 180th in 2015, falling to 185th in 2019 and 2020.

Thus, in almost all socio-economic measures, Burundi’s performance is among the lowest on the planet thanks mainly to conflict and elite corruption.

The failed coup of May 2015 upset a delicate balance in which the army – including former rebels – and the police were jointly managed. Pro-Nkurunziza elements in the army who crushed the coup sensed an opportunity for self-enrichment to match the fortunes of their senior Tutsi colleagues and graduates of military schools.

Source: The Conversation

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