# UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

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## Burundi

A civil war in Burundi began in 1993 and took the lives of at least 200,000 people, displacing over 500,000. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience's concern for Burundi stems from: history of ethnic conflict in Burundi; level of human rights abuses; incomplete peace process; continued instability in the region; relationship to the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Burundi and Rwanda have similar ethnic compositions, and violence in either country has had a serious impact on the other -- particularly the assassination of Burundi's president in 1993 and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. And the internal conflicts in both Rwanda and Burundi are played out in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While the situation in Burundi has stabilized and significant improvements have been made, starting with a peace agreement signed in 2000, the history of conflict between the historically Tutsi-dominated government and Hutu rebels retains a potential for severe ethnically targeted violence that would be within the Committee's mandate.

SUMMER 2006
In its first year in power, the current Burundian government has made significant achievements -- judicial reform, reconstruction initiatives, social welfare improvements -- but the threat of instability in Burundi, human rights situation, and legacy of the civil war remain serious issues for the people of Burundi.

To learn more about the current situation in Burundi, explore the related links on this page.

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