Independence and early history (1962–1993) Under Belgian colonial rule, the
mandatory status of
Ruanda-Urundi established limits on the recruitment of Barundi for military service. Instead, Ruanda-Urundi was garrisoned by a small unit of the
Force Publique recruited in the
Belgian Congo which combined its military role with the role of
gendarmerie. Its members were popularly known as
Bamina in Burundi, after the large military base at
Kamina in the Congo. Amid the Congo's independence, the Belgian colonial administration formed the Burundian National Guard (
Garde Nationale Burundaise) in 1960. It consisted of 650 men, recruited equally from the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups (though the Tutsi mostly consisted of those from the Hima subgroup). When Burundi became independent in 1962 the force was renamed the Burundian National Army (
Armée Nationale Burundaise) and assumed a purely military function. The gendarmarie function was allocated to a civilian authority called the National Gendarmerie (
Gendarmerie nationale) after independence in 1962, though this became part of the army on 7 March 1967. s) at the coronation ceremony of King Ntare V, 1 September 1966 Burundi became independent on 1 July 1962 with the army organised into eight platoons. A
coup attempt in October 1965 led by the Hutu-dominated police was carried out but failed. The Tutsi dominated army, then led by Tutsi officer Captain
Michel Micombero purged Hutu from their ranks and carried out reprisal attacks which ultimately claimed the lives of up to 5,000 people in a predecessor to
Burundian genocides. Micombero then became prime minister.
King Mwambutsa IV, who had fled the country during the October 1965 coup attempt, was deposed by a
coup in July 1966 and his teenage son, Crown Prince Charles Ndizeye, claimed the throne as
King Ntare V. Later that same year, Prime Minister, then-Colonel, Michel Micombero, carried out another
coup in November 1966, this time deposing Ntare, abolishing the monarchy and declaring the nation a
republic. His one-party government was effectively a
military dictatorship. As president, Micombero became an advocate of
African socialism and received support from
China. He imposed a staunch regime of law and order and sharply repressed Hutu militarism. After Micombero's
coup d’etat which deposed the monarchy, he became the first general in Burundian history. He was also commissioned by the National Council of the Revolution (French: Conseil National de la Révolution (CNR)), and made a Lieutenant Général. In his turn, Micombero raised
Thomas Ndabemeye to the grade of Major General. They were the sole generals of the First Republic. In 1972 the
Tutsi-dominated Burundi Army and government carried out a series of mass killings, the
Ikiza, often characterised as a
genocide, primarily against educated and elite
Hutus who lived in the country. Conservative estimates place the death toll of the event between 100,000 and 150,000 killed, while some estimates of the death toll go as high as 300,000. This included a purge of all Hutus and some politically unfavorable Tutsis from the military, shrinking it to about 2,300 members. On 30 December 1974 a naval division was created. In 1981–82 the IISS estimated that the Burundian armed forces were 6,000 strong, with 2 infantry battalions, 1 airborne battalion, 1 commando battalion, and an armoured car company. The same estimate was repeated in the 1988–89 edition except that the strength figure had been dropped to 5,500.
The Civil War and aftermath In 1993,
Hutu President
Melchior Ndadaye was elected in the
1 June presidential election and was sworn in on 10 July. On 21 October, a
coup attempt was staged by a
Tutsi–dominated National Defence Force faction, led by Chief of Staff Lt. Col.
Jean Bikomagu, ex-President
Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, and former interior minister
François Ngeze. The coup attempt resulted in the assassination of Ndadaye and numerous other casualties. Following the coup, the Committee of Public Salvation (CSP) was created as the ruling
junta, and François Ngeze (a prominent Hutu member of
UPRONA) was installed as the new president. Ngeze himself condemned the assassination of Ndadaye. Faced with widespread condemnation, the Army leaders urged civilian politicians to resume control. Consequently, Prime Minister
Sylvie Kinigi (who took refuge in the
French embassy with other senior government figures) was installed as Acting President on 27 October. The 1996 UN inquiry names three units - para 122-3 indicates that at the time of the October coup, the 2e Commando were the presidential guard and the 1er Parachutiste and 11e Blinde were the units involved in the coup. (Para 115 notes that some officers of the 2e Commando were previously involved in an attempted coup in July, before Ndadaye was sworn in, but presumably by October the unit was thought to be loyal). In addition, U.S. Ambassador
Bob Krueger mentions members of the 1st Parachute Battalion being active during the coup in his book. The coup attempted sparked the
Burundian Civil War, which lasted from 1993 to 2005, killing an estimated 300,000 people. The
Arusha Accords ended 12 years of war and stopped decades of ethnic killings. The
2005 constitution provided guaranteed representation for both
Hutu and
Tutsi, and
2005 parliamentary election that led to Pierre Nkurunziza, from the Hutu
FDD, becoming president. According to a 2004 report by Child Soldiers International, Burundi's military used conscripted child soldiers. Children in military service were subject to military courts which fell short of international law standards. The armed forces have deployed significant numbers of troops to the
African Union Mission in Somalia since c. 2007. On February 1, 2007
Burundi committed to the mission, pledging up to 1,000 troops. The
121e Régiment de Parachutistes were mentioned in French news articles as one of the units that supported the
attempted coup in 2015. In the aftermath of the coup and the later disputed election, armed forces chief of staff Major General
Prime Niyongabo survived an assassination attempt on September 11, 2015. In 2015/16, Laurent Touchard wrote that the BNDF included ten two-battalion infantry brigades. (Touchard 2016) == Structure ==