Esdras Ndikumana
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/ 22 August 2007

Burundians fear return to conflict

Burundi’s acute political deadlock and the collapse of peace talks have raised fears that the nation might fall back into the deadly conflict that devastated the country for more than a decade. "I’m scared because I have this feeling that the country is going backwards instead of forwards," said Cyrille Barekebuvuge, a shopowner in the centre of the capital.

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/ 26 August 2005

Burundi swears in new president

Burundi’s new President, Pierre Nkurunziza, was sworn in Bujumbura on Friday as the country’s first elected leader after 12 years of war at a ceremony attended by several other African heads of state. The swearing-in also marked the end of an extended four-year transitional period that ushered in democratic rule in Burundi.

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/ 19 April 2005

Rwanda’s Hutus flee genocide courts

Clutched in small groups and squatting uneasily outside a clinic in northern Burundi, the growing crowd of Hutus fleeing village genocide courts in Rwanda looked anything but optimistic. For the past two weeks, they have been trooping across the border in increasing numbers, fearing persecution or unfair treatment.