Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament or Parlement, consists of a National Assembly
or Assemblee Nationale (minimum 100 seats - 60% Hutu and 40% Tutsi
with at least 30% being women; additional seats appointed by a
National Independent Electoral Commission to ensure ethnic
representation; members are elected by popular vote to serve
five-year terms) and a Senate (54 seats; 34 by indirect vote to
serve five year terms, with remaining seats assigned to ethnic
groups and former chiefs of state)
elections: National Assembly - last held 4 July 2005 (next to be
held in 2010); Senate - last held 29 July 2005 (next to be held in
2010)
election results: National Assembly - percent of vote by party -
CNDD-FDD 58.6%, FRODEBU 21.7%, UPRONA 7.2%, CNDD 4.1%,
MRC-Rurenzangemero 2.1%, others 6.2%; seats by party - CNDD-FDD 59,
FRODEBU 25, UPRONA 10, CNDD 4, MRC-Rurenzangemero 2; Senate -
percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - CNDD-FDD 30,
FRODEBU 3, CNDD 1
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court or Cour Supreme; Constitutional Court; Courts of
Appeal (there are three in separate locations); Tribunals of First
Instance (17 at the province level and 123 small local tribunals)
Political parties and leaders:
the three national, mainstream, governing parties are: Burundi
Democratic Front or FRODEBU [Leonce NGENDAKUMANA, president];
National Council for the Defense of Democracy, Front for the Defense
of Democracy or CNDD-FDD [Hussein RADJABU, president]; Unity for
National Progress or UPRONA [Aloys RUBUKA, president]
note: a multiparty system was introduced after 1998, included are:
National Council for the Defense of Democracy or CNDD; National
Resistance Movement for the Rehabilitation of the Citizen or
MRC-Rurenzangemero [Epitace BANYAGANAKANDI]; Party for National
Redress or PARENA [Jean-Baptiste BAGAZA]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
none
International organization participation:
ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, CEPGL, COMESA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt,
ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM
(observer), IPU, ISO (subscriber), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Celestin NIYONGABO
chancery: Suite 212, 2233 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007
telephone: [1] (202) 342-2574
FAX: [1] (202) 342-2578
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Patricia Newton MOLLER
embassy: Avenue des Etats-Unis, Bujumbura
mailing address: B. P. 1720, Bujumbura
telephone: [257] 223454
FAX: [257] 222926
Flag description:
divided by a white diagonal cross into red panels (top and bottom)
and green panels (hoist side and fly side) with a white disk
superimposed at the center bearing three red six-pointed stars
outlined in green arranged in a triangular design (one star above,
two stars below)
Economy Burundi
Economy - overview:
Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an
underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly
agricultural with more than 90% of the population dependent on
subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea
exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The
ability to pay for imports, therefore, rests primarily on weather
conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi
minority, 14% of the population, dominates the government and the
coffee trade at the expense of the Hutu majority, 85% of the
population. An ethnic-based war that lasted for over a decade
resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced more than 48,000
refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally.
Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 10
adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short
supply. Political stability and the end of the civil war have
improved aid flows and economic activity has increased, but
underlying weaknesses - a high poverty rate, poor education rates, a
weak legal system, and low administrative capacity - risk
undermining planned economic reforms.