On the basis of the constitution of 1992, which established a multi-party system, presidential elections took place on June 1, 1993, in which the Hutu Melchior Ndadaye (* 1953, † 1993) was elected president due to the demographic majority. 1993). The dissatisfaction of radical Tutsis with this development emerged in a bloody attempted coup by the military on October 21, 1993, in which President Ndadaye was assassinated. Hutu extremists responded with massacres of Tutsi and the formation of the first rebel movement. More than 600,000 people fled to Rwanda, Tanzania or the former Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). On January 13, 1994 the parliament elected the moderate Hutu Cyprien Ntaryamira (* 1955, † 1994) as President of the Republic (in office: February 5, 1994). He was killed on April 6, 1994 together with the President of Rwanda in a plane crash in Kigali. After an agreement between moderate Hutu and Tutsi forces, the new president was Hutu Sylvestre Ntibantunganya (* 1956), confirmed by parliament on September 30, 1994. Even so, the violence continued to escalate. This was inter alia. favored by the advance of the Tutsi rebels in neighboring Rwanda. Here there is a comparable contrast between the two ethnic groups and the conflicts in both countries influence one another. On July 25, 1996, there was another military coup under Father Buyoya. The international community responded with violent protests and neighboring countries with an economic boycott (1996–99). Following the mediation of N. Mandela, on August 28, 2000, a majority of the groups involved in the conflict signed a peace agreement to end the civil war. It saw i.a. the formation of a transitional government, which was finally set up in November 2001 (at the same time as the entry into force of a transitional constitution) after violent disputes over power. Units of the African Union secured the peace process from 2003 onwards and UN troops from 2004 onwards. In a transitional period up to democratic parliamentary and presidential elections, Buyoya was initially President Buyoya for 18 months and his deputy from April 30, 2003 Domitien Ndayizeye (* 1953), a Hutu, president; The Tutsi Alphonse Kadege (* 1948) became vice-president in 2003. However, fighting between the Tutsi-ruled army and four Hutu rebel movements continued; There was also massive resistance to the peace process within the Tutsi. After an agreement with two smaller rebel movements, the government and representatives of the Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie – Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD-FDD) signed an armistice on December 2, 2002 in Arusha (Tanzania), but it was not until then was implemented on October 8, 2003 with an agreement on the exact division of posts in government, administration and the security forces as well as the admission of Hutu into the army.
After the new constitution, approved by referendum in February 2005, came into effect, the former Hutu rebel movement FDD (now CNDD-FDD) won the first parliamentary elections since the civil war in 1993. Both houses of parliament elected Fr Nkurunziza on August 19, 2005, the chairman of the CNDD-FDD and former leader of the FDD, as the new president; an opposing candidate was not set up. For the reconstruction of the country after the devastating civil war, an international donor conference (including the USA, the EU, the World Bank and Japan) approved funds amounting to US $ 170 million on March 28, 2006. On April 4, 2006, the government agreed with representatives of the UN to set up a truth and reconciliation commission and a tribunal on war crimes since 1962. The Forces Nationales de Liberation (FNL) are the only Hutu rebel group to continue the armed struggle. The disarmament of the FNL fighters, as agreed in a ceasefire agreement of September 2006, was called into question by a split in the Hutu rebel organization. Although on February 19 In 2007 an FNL delegation started negotiations with the government, but in September and October 2007 there was heavy fighting between this faction and the FNL majority, which refused to accept the peace process brokered by South Africa. After internal power struggles, the CNDD-FDD lost its parliamentary majority in the same year. Formed in November 2007 President P. Nkurunziza therefore a government of national unity. It was not until April 2009 that the FNL rebels officially laid down their arms and formed a political party.
In the run-up to the 2010 elections, domestic political tensions intensified. With 91.6% of the vote, incumbent Nkurunziza emerged victorious from the presidential election on June 28, 2010. He was the only candidate as his six competitors withdrew their candidacy in early June 2010. They accused the ruling party of having falsified the results of the local elections on May 24, 2010, and feared that the manipulations would be repeated. In the parliamentary elections on July 23, 2010, voter turnout fell further compared to the two previous elections. As in the presidential election, the opposition had boycotted the polls so that the CNDD-FDD was able to secure more than three quarters of the seats with 81 mandates. On August 26, 2010 Nkurunziza sworn in again as president. The differences between the government and the opposition intensified in the years that followed. In 2013, President Nkurunziza passed a new press law that threatened critical reporting on national security or public order with harsh sanctions. Within the governing coalition of CNDD-FDD, UPRONA and FRODEBU-Nyakur, Nkurunziza’s plans to run for a third term as president, contrary to the constitution, sparked considerable tension. Members of the government of the Tustsi party UPRONA who were critical of Nkurunziza were replaced by compliant UPRONA politicians in February 2014. After the CNDD-FDD Nkurunziza had nominated again as a presidential candidate in April 2015, there were protest demonstrations and riots in the following weeks, which left numerous dead and injured. On May 5, 2015, the Constitutional Court declared Nkurunziza’s renewed candidacy to be legal. An attempted coup against the president failed in mid-May 2015. Tens of thousands fled to neighboring countries because of the increasing violence and fear of a new civil war. Against this background, the parliamentary elections planned for the end of May were postponed due to international pressure. At the same time Nkurunziza formed his cabinet. Finally, on June 27, 2015, the parliamentary elections took place, which, as in 2010, were boycotted by the opposition. The CNDD-FDD had 77 seats. UN election observers criticized the election process and denied the credibility of the election. According to the electoral commission, Nkurunziza emerged victorious from the presidential elections, which were overshadowed by numerous acts of violence and which were postponed from July 15 to July 21, 2015. The opposition had also called for a boycott of these elections.
The unrest continued even after the election. According to prozipcodes, the number of refugees outside the country rose to 439,300 by the end of 2017. Observers feared an escalation in the conflict between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority that could no longer be controlled. In 2017, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees assumed around 150,000 internally displaced persons. In addition, the regime’s repression against those who think differently and the independent media intensified. Against the background of preliminary investigations by the International Criminal Court into the human rights situation, Burundi resigned from this body in 2016. In a referendum on May 17, 2018, accompanied by intimidation and violence, Nkurunziza pushed through constitutional amendments that allow him to run for two more presidential positions.