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TIME LINE OF EVENTS IN BURUNDI

 
1500-1889 Precolonial period
1858 European exploration of Burundi begins
1890 Burundi is incorporated into German East Africa
1919 Burundi becomes a colony of Belgium
1962 Burundi becomes an independent country on July 1 with a constitutional monarchy
1962-63 There is fighting between the Tutsis and Hutus and struggles for power among the Tutsis themselves.
1965 A coup attempt by Hutus fails and the Tutsis retaliate by executing most Hutu political leaders and many other Hutus.
1966 In July King Mwambutsa IV is disposed in a military coup and replaced by his son Ntare V who is replaced in a military coup in November by Captain Micombero (a Tutsi) who becomes Prime Minister and declares Burundi a republic.
1970 From 1970-71 there is renewed fighting between Tutsis and Hutus.
1972 In March the former Mwami Ntare is kidnapped by Idi Amin while on a visit to Uganda. He is flown to Burundi, where he is accused of attempting invasion with the assistance of white mercenaries. He is consequently imprisoned at Gitega. A Hutu revolt breaks out in Bujumbura and in the south on April 29, in which the Hutus kill up to 2,000 Tutsi. Major Shibura executes Mwami Ntare at Gitega. Civil war subsequently rages through the country. The Hutu kill a further 10,000 Tutsi, including the president's brother-in-law. In retaliation, the Tutsi, led by army leaders, kill at least 100,000 Hutu. Many educated and prominent Hutus, together with students and secondary school children, are executed.
1976 Micombero is deposed by a military coup and Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Baptist Bagaza (a Tutsi) becomes President of a military regime, appointed by a 30-member supreme revolutionary council.
1972 Ethnic violence kills tens of thousands
1984 Bagaza is re-elected as President of a one-party state, the Union of National Progress (UPRONA).
1987 Bagaza is deposed in a coup led by Major Pierre Buyoya (a Tutsi) who suspends the constitution, all state organs and those of UPRONA. To lessen ethnic divisions, he appoints a majority of Hutus to the cabinet and encourages enlistment of Hutus in the military.
1988 Ethnic violence kills at least 20,000 Hutus, and many more flee to settle in Tanzania.
1992 A new constitution is drawn up by Buyoya that provides for a multiparty political system.
1993 Elections for a National Assembly are held in June and President Buyoya is peacefully displaced by Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu banker of the Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU)
1993 President Ndadaye is killed in an unsuccessful coup by Tutsi soldiers in October. After the coup is suppressed, FRODEBU maintains power. Ethnic violence again rocks the country and thousands of Hutus and Tutsis die. Many others flee the country.
1994 Cyprien Ntaryamira is elected as the second Hutu president in January but is killed that April in a plane crash in Rwanda along with the president of Rwanda. It is widely rumored that the plan was shot down by Tutsi rebels in Rwanda. As a result, Hutu youth gangs began massacring Tutsi; the Tutsi-controlled army retaliates by killing Hutus. Ntaryamira is replaced by Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, also an ethnic Hutu.
1994 Ntibantunganya can not control the army which is predominantly Tutsi and civil war breaks out that claims some 300,000 lives
1996 Pierre Buyoya takes over power in another coup and suspends the 1992 constitution. Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania apply economic sanctions in protest.
1998 A new constitution is enacted that enlarges the National Assembly and creates two Vice-Presidents, one Hutu and One Tutsi.
1999 The guerrilla war between the Hutu rebels, the FDD (Forces for the Defence of Democracy) and the army intensify.
2000 In March, peace negotiations between the Government and the FDD took a more positive turn under Nelson Mandela's chairmanship.
2001 In November an agreement brokered by Nelson Mandela establishing a transitional government jointly led by Buyoya and FRODEBUI leader Domitien Ndayizeye. After three years national elections are to be held. In the meantime, the civil war continues.
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