Published November 30, 2011 | By Amangeldi Djumanaliev and Raphaël Jaeger

Situated in a relatively volatile region of East Africa, sandwiched next to Rwanda and the restive eastern provinces of D. R. Congo, Burundi continues to be one of the world’s poorest countries. Since independence from Belgium, Burundi has been beset by ethnic conflict between the Tutsi minority (which owned most of the land and controlled the army and much of the economy) and the Hutu majority. The country has been characterized by repeated ethnic conflict, military coups, assassinations, and low-intensity civil wars. In May 2008, the government signed a ceasefire with the last active rebel group, formally ending the civil war. Recent arrests of journalists and opposition party members, and harassment of civil society have added to current concerns. The al Shabaab terrorist group has made threats to conduct terrorist attacks against Burundi in retaliation to Bujumbura’s decision to send 4,000 peacekeeping troops to Somalia.