Key dates in Burundi's post-independence history

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (Reuters) -- The following is a chronology of the tiny central African state of Burundi where the Tutsi-dominated army is at war with Hutu rebels:

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  •  1961 -- Burundi's first prime minister, Louis Rwagasore, assassinated. Rwagasore was seen as a figure of ethnic unity.

  • 1962 -- Burundi gains independence from Belgium.

  • 1966 -- Capt. Michel Micombero takes power in a coup.

  • 1972 -- Burundi's army represses a Hutu uprising, killing more than 100,000 Hutus and decimating the educated Hutu elite. The massacres, one of the most violent episodes in Africa's post-independence history, traumatized the country.

  • 1976 -- Micombero overthrown by Col. Jean-Baptiste Bagaza.

  • 1987 -- Major Pierre Buyoya overthrows his cousin Bagaza.

  • 1988 -- Hundreds of Tutsis are killed in a Hutu uprising. Thousands of Hutus are killed in reprisals by the army.

  • 1990 -- Buyoya institutes political reforms.

  • 1992 -- A referendum endorses new constitution in Burundi, legalizing multi-party politics and instituting a democratic election process.

  • June 1993 -- Melchior Ndadaye's Frodebu party wins a multi-party election with 64.8 percent of the vote. The victory ends military rule and installs a pro-Hutu government.

  •  October 21, 1993 -- Tutsi soldiers assassinate Ndadaye in a coup attempt. In revenge some Frodebu members initiate massacres of Tutsis and the army launches reprisals. Tens of thousands are killed as Ndadaye's murder starts a civil war.

  •  January 1994 -- Frodebu's Cyprien Ntaryamira, a Hutu, elected interim president by the National Assembly.

  • April 6, 1994 -- Ntaryamira dies in plane crash in Kigali that also kills Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, triggering a genocide in Rwanda in which Hutu extremists attempt to exterminate the country's Tutsi population.

  • August 1994 -- Burundi's political parties agree a power-sharing deal against a backdrop of increasing violence.

  • September 1994 -- Frodebu's Sylvestre Ntibantunganya confirmed as new president. Interior Minister Leonard Nyangoma rejects power-sharing deal, flees the country and forms the National Council for the Defense of Democracy to wage war against the army.

  • 1996 -- Former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere appointed as Burundi mediator by regional heads of state, with endorsement of OAU and United Nations.

  • July 1996 -- Ntibantunganya takes refuge in U.S. Embassy after army says it can no longer guarantee his protection (July 24). Buyoya takes power in an army coup (July 25). Regional states, marshaled by Nyerere, impose economic sanctions on Buyoya's government.

  • April 1997 -- Regional sanctions, widely flouted, are eased after Buyoya reveals he was secretly talking to CNDD in Rome.

  • May 1998 -- Main rebel group, the CNDD, along with its armed wing, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy, say they have sacked Nyangoma as leader, replacing him with FDD chief Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye. They effectively create a splinter rebel group, the CNDD-FDD.

  • June 1998 -- Buyoya signs a transitional constitution, bringing Frodebu officials back into government for the first time since the 1996 coup.

  • All-party peace talks start in Arusha, north Tanzania. Nyangoma invited to represent CNDD, with Ndayikengurukiye's faction protesting it was not invited.

  • July 1998 -- A cease-fire is agreed in Arusha, but in practice it is ignored by rebels and the army.

  • January 1999 -- Regional states, in recognition of progress over several rounds of peace talks, suspend sanctions.

  • December 1999 -- Former South African President Nelson Mandela takes over as mediator in the Arusha peace process after Nyerere's death in October and calls for armed groups -- including Ndayikengurukiye's faction -- to be involved in the talks.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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