April 29 - An uprising in Burundi by the Hutu people against the Tutsi-dominated government, began with machete attacks that killed more than 3,000 Tutsi civilians and soldiers.[1] In the words of one observer, "the ferocity of the ensuing repression by the army was beyond imagination", with more than 100,000 Hutus being massacred over the next five months.[2] In the genocide that followed, educated Hutu people—schoolchildren, college students, civil servants—were murdered, "especially anyone wearing glasses".[3]
May
May 1 - Hutu rebels set up their own short-lived, "People's Republic of Martyazo", at the Bururi Province. The Tutsi-dominated Burundian Army ended the secession movement within two weeks, before beginning the slaughter of thousands of Hutus.[4]
References
^Nigel Watt, Burundi: Biography of a Small African Country, (Columbia University Press, 2008), pp33–34
^Israel W. Chamy, Encyclopedia of Genocide (ABC-Clio, 2000), pp509–510