The swift unraveling of fragile peace in Burundi

Burundi was supposed to hold parliamentary elections May 26. Instead, one of the world's poorest countries has found itself mired in a political crisis that has stalled much-needed development projects and forced thousands to seek refuge in countries across the border.

By Andrew Green // 25 May 2015

A failed coup and ongoing political conflict in Burundi have sparked a regional refugee crisis and stalled much-needed development projects in one of the world’s poorest countries.

This after Burundi spent the past decade attempting to overcome a post-independence period marred by a brutal civil war played out largely along ethnic lines. The leaders of the two major ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis, struck a cease-fire agreement in 2003 and two years later, the country’s parliament elected Pierre Nkurunziza — a former Hutu militia leader — president.

The 10 years of relative peace allowed humanitarian partners to transition from emergency relief to long-term development projects in a country consistently ranked among the five poorest in the world. Now many of those partners have evacuated, as the country’s political situation has unraveled over the past month.