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Since independence in 1961, it has been plagued by tension between the dominant Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority and has been the scene of one of Africa’s most intractable conflicts.

It is now beginning to reap the dividends of a peace process. But it faces the formidable tasks of reviving a shattered economy and of forging national unity.

OVERVIEW

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In 1993 Burundi seemed poised to enter a new era when, in their first democratic elections, Burundians chose their first Hutu head of state, Melchior Ndadaye, and a parliament dominated by the Hutu Front for Democracy in Burundi (Frodebu) party.

AT-A-GLANCE Politics: Stability appears to be within reach after years of bloody conflict. The government and the last active rebel group agreed a ceasefire in September 2006 Economy: Half the population lives below the poverty line. Coffee and tea account for most of the foreign currency earnings Dating free game online play: Relative peace after a 12-year ethnic-based civil war has been attributed partly to international mediation and support Timeline

But within months Ndadaye had been assassinated, setting the scene for years of Hutu-Tutsi violence in which an estimated 300,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed.

In early 1994 parliament elected another Hutu, Cyprien Ntaryamira, as president. But he was killed in April alongside the president of neighbouring Rwanda when the plane they were travelling in was shot down over Kigali.

Another Hutu, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, was appointed president in October 1994. But within months, the mainly Tutsi Union for National Progress (Uprona) party withdrew from the government and parliament, sparking a new wave of ethnic violence.

Following long-running talks, mediated by South Africa, a power-sharing government was set up in 2001 and most of the rebel groups agreed to a ceasefire. Four years later Burundians voted in the first dating ethnic site elections since the start of the civil war.

The main Hutu former rebel group won the vote and nominated its leader Pierre Nkurunziza as president.

Meanwhile, the government and the United Nations have begun the lengthy process of disarming thousands of soldiers and former rebels, as well as forming a new national army.

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