Article Outline
The dominant political party is the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), which won a majority in both the National Assembly and the Senate in 2005 elections. The FDD is predominantly Hutu, but under the 2005 constitution all political parties must be ethnically integrated. Other significant political parties are the predominantly Hutu Burundi Democracy Front (Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi, or FRODEBU) and the predominantly Tutsi UPRONA.
Burundi’s health and social security systems are rudimentary and underfinanced. AIDS, typhus, tuberculosis, pneumonia, dysentery, and kwashiorkor (severe protein deficiency) are the most serious health problems.
Burundi’s armed forces are composed of a paramilitary gendarmerie (police force) and an army, which includes naval and air units. In 2004 the total force numbered 50,500, all volunteers. Since independence the military has been very politically active and in turn has fallen victim to corruption and often violent purges.
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International and Regional Organizations
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Burundi is a member of the United Nations (UN), the East African Community, and the African Union and is a signatory of the Lomé Convention (agreements of cooperation between the European Union and many developing countries).
In the early 14th century, the Hutu arrived, probably from the Congo Basin, and imposed their language and customs on the Twa, who are believed to be Burundi’s original inhabitants. The development of an organized kingdom began in the 15th century, when the Tutsi, probably migrating from the north, established themselves as feudal rulers. Tutsi kings, or mwamis, became monarchs of distinct kingdoms in Burundi and Rwanda. Their rule was enforced by chiefs and subchiefs, who each ruled an umusozi, a fiefdom consisting of a single hill. Political and economic relations were based on an unequal feudal relationship, known as the ubugabire system, in which most Hutu became serfs subjugated by and economically dependent on the Tutsi. However, Burundi’s economic and sociopolitical structures were not as rigid as those of Rwanda. The power of the mwami was not absolute, and various princely leaders, known as ganwa, often vied for the throne. Unlike in Rwanda, marriages between Hutu and Tutsi were common in Burundi.
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