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Historically, it was ruled by a king, with chiefs under him. It was visited by the explorers David Livingstone and H M Stanley. It was annexed by Germany to become part of German East Africa together with Tanganyika. After the First World War it became a League of Nations protectorate under the Belgians - combined as Ruanda-Urundi with the similar-sized country, now called Rwanda, to the north. Both countries received independence, separately, in 1962.
Burundi has suffered many years of inter-ethnic violence which culminated in a civil war.
This resulted in millions of refugees fleeing to the neighbouring
countries -- Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania. Some who fled have spent
most of a lifetime in refugee camps. Following a peace accord,
there were democratic elections in 2005. The new president, Peter
Nkurunziza, has committed himself to
national unity and the refugees displaced internally and in neighbouring countries have begun to return.
Peace is still fragile.
As a result of the Peace Accord, there
has been a massive resettlement process for the Internally Displaced
People and resettlement of the hundreds of thousands who have returned
from refugee camps abroad. Inevitably, there are conflicts over
land rights.
Traditionally, Burundi has been a strongly Christian country, with 80 per cent of the population baptised Catholics. However, there are also many Protestant churches arising from the missionary movement and some indigenous independent African churches. For about 30 years from the late 1930s there was a remarkable religious movement which started in the Anglican Church in Rwanda, and became known as the East African Revival, which spread to neighbouring countries, including Burundi, and had an influence worldwide.
Burundi is a mountainous country,
intrinsically healthy, and has become very densely populated, to a level
that is hard to sustain. Soil erosion and exhaustion of nutrients
make farming increasingly hard. The country has few natural resources
and is one of the poorest in the world.
In recent years, the situation has been aggravated by prolonged droughts and severe flooding, possibly related to global warming.
Like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV and AIDS not only causes immense personal tragedies but effects productivity at both family level and nationally.
Friends of Burundi seeks to help in a small way by assisting those who seek to alleviate the spiritual physical and emotional needs of the country. Friends of Burundi has linked with projects as diverse as famine relief, AIDS counselling, reconciliation ministries and Bibles for prisoners.
See copy of Human Rights Watch Report 2008-9
A helpful review of the current situation
Guardian article November 2011