



Republic of Burundi


Nationality: Noun and adjective--Burundian(s).
Population (July 2007 est.): 8,390,505.
Annual growth rate (2007 est.): 3.593%.
Religions (estimated): Christian 67% (Roman Catholic 62%, Protestant 5%), indigenous beliefs 23%, Muslim 10%.
Languages: Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area), English.
Education: Years compulsory--6. Attendance--84.05% male, 62.8% female. Literacy--51.6% of total adult population (2003 estimate).
Health (2007 est.): Life expectancy--total population: 51.29 years; male: 50.48 years; female: 52.12 years. Infant mortality rate--61.93/1,000.

Type: Republic. Democratically elected, post-transition government established August 26, 2005.
Independence: July 1, 1962 (from Belgium).
Branches: Executive--President, First Vice President in charge of political and administrative affairs, Second Vice President in charge of social and economic affairs, 20-member Council of Ministers. Legislative--A 100-member directly elected National Assembly plus additional deputies appointed as necessary (currently 18 appointed) to ensure an ethnic and gender composition of 60% Hutu, 40% Tutsi, 30% female, and 3 Batwa members. A 54-member Senate (3 seats reserved for former presidents; 3 seats reserved for the ethnic Twa minority; 2 Senators, one Hutu and one Tutsi, from each of the 16 provinces plus the city of Bujumbura appointed by an electoral college comprised of members of locally elected communal and provincial councils; 14 Senators appointed by the president according to the president's own criteria. Women must comprise 30% of the Senate.) Judicial--constitutional and subsidiary courts.
Administrative subdivisions: 17 provinces including Bujumbura, 117 communes.
Political parties: Multi-party system consisting of 21 registered political parties, of which CNDD (the National Council for the Defense of Democracy, Hutu), FRODEBU (the Front for Democracy in Burundi, predominantly Hutu with some Tutsi membership), and UPRONA (the National Unity and Progress Party, predominantly Tutsi with some Hutu membership) are national, mainstream parties. Other Tutsi and Hutu opposition parties and groups include, among others, PARENA (the Party for National Redress, Tutsi), ABASA (the Burundi African Alliance for the Salvation, Tutsi), PRP (the People's Reconciliation Party, Tutsi), PALIPEHUTU (the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People, Hutu) and FROLINA/FAP (the Front for the National Liberation of Burundi/Popular Armed Forces, Hutu).
Suffrage: Universal adult.

GDP (2006 est.): $776 million.
Real growth rate (2006): 3.8%.
Per capita GDP (2004): $96; ($700 using purchasing power parity, 2006 est.).
Inflation rate (2006): 11%.
Central government budget (2006 est.): Revenues--$239.9 million; expenditures--$297 million, including capital expenditures.
Agriculture (2006 est., 44.9% of GDP): Coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca), beef, milk, hides. Arable land--35.57% (2005 est.).
Industry (2006 est., 20.9% of GDP): Types--beverage production, coffee and tea processing, cigarette production, sugar refining, pharmaceuticals, light food processing, textiles, chemicals (insecticides), public works construction, consumer goods, assembly of imported components, light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap.
Services (2006 est.): 34.1% of GDP.
Trade (2006 est.): Exports--$55.68 million f.o.b.: coffee (50% of export earnings), tea, sugar, cotton fabrics, hides. Major markets--U.K., Germany, Benelux, Switzerland. Imports--$207.3 million f.o.b.: food, beverages, tobacco, chemicals, road vehicles, petroleum products. Major suppliers--Benelux, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan.
Total external debt (2004 est.): $1.4 billion.











In accordance with the new electoral calendar, the Burundian people voted in Commune Council direct elections on June 3, 2005 and National Assembly direct elections on July 4, 2005. An electoral college of commune and provincial councils indirectly elected Senate members on July 29, 2005. A joint session of the parliament elected Pierre Nkurunziza as President of Burundi on August 19, 2005 in a vote of 151 to 9 with one abstention, establishing the post-transition government. Finally, the Burundian people established Colline (hill) councils through direct elections on September 23, 2005.

Principal Government Officials
President--Pierre Nkurunziza
First Vice President--Martin Nduwimana
Second Vice President--Gabriel Ntiserzerana
Speaker of the National Assembly--Pie Ntavyohanyuma
President of the Senate--Isidore Rufyikiri
Minister of Defense--Germain Niyoyankana
Minister of External Relations and Cooperation--Antoinette Batumubwira
Minister of Interior and Public Security--Evariste Ndayishimiye
Ambassador to the United States--Celestin Niyongabo





Burundi is heavily dependent on bilateral and multilateral aid, with external debt totaling $1.4 billion in 2004. IMF structural adjustment programs in Burundi were suspended following the outbreak of violence in 1993; the IMF re-engaged Burundi in 2002 and 2003 with post-conflict credits, and in 2004 approved a $104 million Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility loan. The World Bank is preparing a Transition Support Strategy, and has identified key areas for potential growth, including the productivity of traditional crops and the introduction of new exports, light manufactures, industrial mining, and services. Both the IMF and the World Bank are assisting the Burundians to prepare a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. Serious economic problems include the state's role in the economy, the question of governmental transparency, and debt reduction.

Based on Burundi's successful transition from war to peace and the establishment of a democratically elected government in Burundi in September 2005, the United States Government lifted all sanctions on assistance to Burundi on October 18, 2005. Burundi also became eligible for trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act in December 2005.

Burundi's relations with its neighbors have often been affected by security concerns. Hundreds of thousands of Burundian refugees have at various times crossed into Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Hundreds of thousands of Burundians fled to neighboring countries during the civil war. Most of them, more than 750,000 since 1993, are in Tanzania. Burundi maintains close relations with all neighbors in the Great Lakes region, including Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Burundi is a member of various international and regional organizations, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the African Union, the African Development Bank, COMESA, the free-tariff zone of eastern and southern Africa, and the East Africa Community (EAC).

U.S. Government goals in Burundi are to help the people of Burundi realize a just and lasting peace based upon democratic principles and sustainable economic development. The United States encourages political stability, ongoing democratic reforms, political openness, respect for human rights, and economic development in Burundi. In the long term, the United States seeks to strengthen the process of internal reconciliation and democratization within all the states of the region to promote a stable, democratic community of nations that will work toward mutual social, economic, and security interests on the continent.

The United States supported the Arusha peace process, providing financial support through our assessed contributions to a UN peacekeeping force established in 2004.

Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--Patricia Newton Moller
Deputy Chief of Mission--Ann K. Breiter
Political/Economic Officers--Lewis Carroll, Caren Brown
Management Officer--George Lawson
Consular Officer--Matthew Garret
Regional Security Officer--Michael Jordan
General Service Officer--Lynn Whiteheart


[This is a mobile copy of Burundi (07/07)]