Post-conflict reconstruction
Reconstruction efforts started to practically take effect after 2006. The UN shut down its peacekeeping mission and focused on helping with reconstruction. Toward achieving economic reconstruction, Rwanda, D.R.Congo and Burundi relaunched the regional Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries. Burundi and Rwanda joined the East African Community in 2007.
However, the terms of the September 2006 ceasefire between the government and the last remaining armed opposition group, the FLN (Forces for National Liberation, also called NLF or FROLINA), was not fully implemented, and senior FLN members subsequently left the truce monitoring team, claiming that their security was threatened. In September 2007, rival FLN factions clashed in the capital, killing 20 fighters and causing residents to flee. Rebel raids were reported in other parts of the country. The rebel factions disagreed with the government over disarmament and the release of political prisoners. In late 2007 and early 2008, FLN combatants attacked government-protected camps where former combatants were living. The homes of rural residents were also pillaged.
A 2007 Amnesty International report mentions the country's shortcomings on human rights. Civilians are victims of repeated acts of violence done by the FLN. The FLN also recruits child soldiers. The rate of violence against women is high. Perpetrators regularly escape prosecution and punishment by the state. There is an urgent need for reform of the judicial system.
In 2008, the FLN sought for the parliament to adopt a law guaranteeing them 'provisional immunity' from arrest. Parliament denied the request. This would have covered ordinary crimes but not grave violations of international humanitarian law like war crimes or crimes against humanity. On 17 April 2008, the FLN bombarded Bujumbura. The Burundian army fought back and the FLN suffered heavy losses. A ceasefire was signed in May. In August, President Nkurunziza met with the FLN leader Agathon Rwasa, with the mediation of Charles Nqakula, South Africa's Minister for Safety and Security. Both agreed to meet twice a week to establish a commission to resolve any disputes that might arise during the peace negotiations.
In the early 2010s, the UN peacekeeping mission in Burundi sought to assess the success of its Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration program by counting the number of arms that had been collected, given the prevalence of arms in the country. However, these evaluations failed to include data from local populations, which are significant in impact evaluations of peace-building initiatives.
Burundi has participated in African Union peacekeeping missions, including a mission to Somalia against Al-Shabaab militants. In 2014, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established.
In April 2015 protests broke out after the ruling party announced Nkurunziza would seek a third term in office. Protestors claimed Nkurunziza could not run for a third term in office, but the constitutional court agreed with Nkurunziza (although some of its members had fled the country at the time of its vote).
An attempted coup d'état on 13 May failed to depose Nkurunziza. He returned to Burundi, began purging his government, and arrested several of the coup leaders. Following the attempted coup, however, protests continued; over 100,000 people had fled the country by 20 May, causing a humanitarian emergency. There are reports of continued and widespread abuses of human rights, including unlawful killings, torture, disappearances, and restrictions on freedom of expression.
Despite calls by the United Nations, the African Union, the United States, France, South Africa, Belgium, and various other governments to refrain, the ruling party held parliamentary elections on 29 June, but these were boycotted by the opposition. The United Nations Human Rights Council established the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi through resolution 33/24. Its mandate was to "conduct a thorough investigation into human rights violations and abuses committed in Burundi since April 2015, to identify alleged perpetrators and to formulate recommendations." The Commission called on the government to put an end to serious human rights violations. It stressed "The Burundian government has so far refused to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry, despite the Commission's repeated requests and initiatives." The violations the Commission documented include arbitrary arrests and detentions, acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, rape and other forms of sexual violence.
In a 2018 constitutional referendum, Burundians voted to approve an amended constitution that ensured that Nkurunziza could remain in power until 2034. However, much to the surprise of most observers, Nkurunziza later announced that he did not intend to serve another term, paving the way for a new president to be elected in the 2020 general election. Evariste Ndayishimiye, a candidate who was hand-picked as Nkurunziza's successor by the CNDD-FDD, won the election. Shortly after on 9 June, Nkurunziza died of a cardiac arrest, at age 55. As per the constitution, Pascal Nyabenda, the president of the national assembly, led the government until Ndayishimiye's inauguration on 18 June 2020.
In December 2021, a prison fire killed dozens in Gitega. In November 2022, in challenges to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Burundi's economic growth increased slightly to 3 percent, according to an assessment of the International Monetary Fund. Currently, Burundi remains as one of the world's poorest countries, based on an estimated gross national income (GNI) of US$298 per capita.
The fall of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in January 2025 was the largest escalation of the conflict in Kivu since 2012 and raised concerns that the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel campaign could turn into a larger regional war due to the presence of troops from Rwanda and Burundi in the Kivu provinces. Thousands of soldiers had been deployed to assist the Congolese army in South Kivu by Burundi, which has a Hutu-dominated government and previously accused Rwanda of backing a 2015 coup attempt, adding to concern for the potential of a larger regional war.
