Alexis+H.+Burundi+4A

**Bujumbura, Burundi **
 * B u ru nd i **
 * Click to see video**
 * [|burundi.wmv]**
 * The capital****﻿**
 * The National Anthem**

media type="file" key="Burundi.mp3" width="240" height="20"
 * National flag of Burundi**


 * White stands for peace
 * Green for hope
 * Red for the blood shed fighting for independence
 * The stars represent the nation's three ethnic groups: Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa.

Did you know?

 * Twa and other rural women sometimes file their two front teeth into points to beautify themselves.
 * Greetings between a man and a woman or between two women often involve an embrace and three kisses on alternate cheeks, especially if the people have not seen each other in some time.
 * Drumming is the most celebrated of Burundi's art forms.
 * Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 15 adults has HIV/AIDS.
 * Maps**
 * Comparison table**

//Burundi's poor life expectancy and infant mortality rate may be caused by the nations poor GDP.//
 * · [|Nation] || [|Region] || [|Area (square miles)] || [|Population] || [|Real GDP (per capita)*] || [|Adult literacy] || [|Infant mortality (per 1,000 births)] || [|Life expectancy (male)] || [|Life expectancy (female)] ||
 * Burundi || Africa (East Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa) || 10,745 || 9,863,117 || $341 || 60% || 60 || 49 || 51 ||
 * United States of America || Americas (North America) || 3,794,100 || 310,232,863 || $45,592 || 99% || 6 || 77 || 81 ||
 * Population density**

**Burundi** 917/per square mile **United states** 81/per square mile

**The religions practiced in Burundi**

Christian 67% (Roman Catholic 62%, Protestant 5%), indigenous beliefs 23%, Muslim 10%

Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural which accounts for about 35% of GDP and employs more than 90% of the population. Burundi's primary exports are coffee and tea, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, though exports are a relatively small share of GDP. Burundi's export earning - and its ability to pay for imports - rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the coffee trade. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply. Burundi's GDP grew around 4% annually in 2006-09.
 * The economic situation**

**Language(s) spoken ** French, Kirundi

**Monetary Unit** Burundi Franc (BIF) 1 US Dollar = 1,249.91 Burundi Franc (BIF)

** Government ** Burundi’s government is republic, compared to the United States (which is democratic federal republic guided by a constitution). This type of government has a president (which is currently Pierre Nkurunziza) that serves as the head of state. The president is elected to a five-year term and appoints a cabinet called the Council of Ministers.

** Birth Rate ** **Burundi** 41.43 births/1,000 population **America** 13.83 births/1,000 population //Burundi is decreasing in population. //

**History of Burundi ** <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">The first inhabitants of Burundi were most likely ethnic Twa, who now is only a small part of the ethnic groups. By the 1300’s the Tutsi came from the northeast. In 1899 the germens took over and Burundi became a part of German East Africa. Belgium took control during WWI. Finally Independence was granted on 1 July 1962, and Burundi became a monarchy under the Tutsi king Mwambutsa IV. Independence created tensions between Burundi's majority Hutu and minority Tutsi. In 1966, Tutsi military leader Michel Micombero overthrew the monarchy and created a Tutsi military rule as the ruling body. A rebellion in 1976 brought Jean-Baptiste Bagaza to power as president. Bagaza established a one-party state under the Tutsi-dominated Union for National Progress. In 1987, Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi, led a coup that toppled Bagaza. In the following year, ethnic tensions sparked more violence, with deaths totaling 150,000. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Buyoya finally allowed multiparty elections in 1993. Many Burundians were hopeful that their country was about to enter a period of democratic change. Melchior Ndadaye of the Hutu Front for Democracy in Burundi defeated Buyoya, but in the same year he was assassinated which led the nation into a civil war. In April 1994, Burundi's interim president, Cyprien Ntaryamira, and the president of Rwanda were killed when their plane was shot down, an event that sparked a mass murder to cleanse the population in Rwanda and deepened the ethnic conflict between Burundi's Hutu civilian solders and Tutsi-dominated government forces. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">In 1996, peace talks between his government and Hutu rebel groups repeatedly failed to stop the violence, but in October 2001 the parties created a transitional government and a power-sharing agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Hutu leader Domitien Ndayizeye succeeded Buyoya as president in April 2003. Later that year, Ndayizeye signed a peace treaty with Pierre Nkurunziza, the head of the main Hutu rebel group, Forces for Defense of Democracy (FDD). Nkurunziza won presidential elections in August 2005. The poll marked the end of 12 years of civil war, which had cost more than 300,000 lives. Nkurunziza's government has worked to incorporate militia members into a national army. In September 2006, the government signed a cease-fire with the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), the last rebel group to remain outside peace treaties. After renewed fighting between government troops and the FNL in April and May 2008, the two sides agreed to another cease-fire. Peace and political stability have led to an increase in international aid, but with an economy devastated by years of war, Burundi remains one of the world's most impoverished countries.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">** Resources ** Culture Grams CIA World Factbook University of Austin Flicker CC