Portal:Burundi
Burundi (IPA: [buˈɾundi]), officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of almost 8,700,000. Its capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika. The Twa, Tutsi, and Hutu peoples have occupied Burundi since the country's formation five centuries ago. Burundi was ruled as a kingdom by the Tutsi for over two hundred years. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Germany and Belgium occupied the region, and Burundi and Rwanda became a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi. Political unrest occurred throughout the region because of social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu, provoking civil war in Burundi throughout the middle twentieth century. Presently, Burundi is governed as a presidential representative democratic republic. Sixty-two percent of Burundians are Roman Catholic, eight to ten percent are Muslims and the rest follow indigenous beliefs and other Christian denominations. Burundi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. It has the lowest per capita GDP of any nation in the world. Burundi has a low gross domestic product largely due to civil wars, corruption, poor access to education, and the effects of HIV/AIDS. Burundi is densely populated, with substantial emigration. Cobalt and copper are among Burundi's natural resources. Some of Burundi's main exports include coffee and sugar. Selected article
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation comprising the five east African countries Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. While generally, the member nations are largely in favor of the East African Federation, informal polls indicate that most Tanzanians (80% of its population) have an unfavorable view. Tanzania has more land than the other EAC nations combined, and some Tanzanians fear landgrabs by the current residents of the other EAC member nations. Land scarcity is a recurring issue in East Africa, particularly in Kenya, where clashes on the Kenyan side of Mount Elgon in 2007 left more than 150 dead and forced at least 60,000 away from their homes. The first major step in establishing the East African Federation is the customs union in East Africa signed in March 2004 which commenced on 1 January 2005. Under the terms of the treaty, Kenya, the region's largest exporter, will continue to pay duties on its goods entering the other four countries until 2010, based on a declining scale. A common system of tariffs will apply to goods imported from third-party countries. (Read more...) Selected picture Two soldiers on patrol in the streets of Bujumbura, Burundi express their affection for one another. It is not unusual in many societies throughout east Africa for men to display their friendship for one another by holding hands in public. Template:/box-header Template:/Did you know Template:/box-footer Template:/box-header Template:/In the news Template:/box-footer Template:/box-header Template:/Categories Template:/box-footer Selected biographyedit Sylvie Kinigi (born 1953) was Prime Minister of Burundi from 10 July 1993 to 7 February 1994, the first and to date only woman to hold the position. Kinigi was born in 1953, and is a member of the Tutsi ethnic group. Her husband, with whom she had five children, was a member of the Hutu ethnic group. Kinigi graduated from Burundi University, having studied economic management, and worked in the Burundi civil service. She eventually became a senior advisor in the Prime Minister's office, focusing on economic policy. When Melchior Ndadaye was elected President of Burundi in 1993, he appointed Kinigi as his Prime Minister. This was part of an effort to build unity between Burundi's two ethnic groups — Ndadaye was a Hutu, and wished to decrease Tutsi hostility to his administration by appointing a Tutsi as Prime Minister. Kinigi stated that reconciliation between the two ethnic groups would be her highest priority. Template:/box-header Template:/Topics Template:/box-footer Template:/box-header Template:/Related portals Template:/box-footer The following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject:
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