- GEOGRAPHY: Landlocked country in central Africa, bound by Rwanda in the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west. One of the smallest states on the African continent, covering 27,834 square kilometers (10,747 square miles).

- POPULATION: 6.8 million, of which around 85 percent are Hutu and 14 percent Tutsi. The remaining one percent of the population is made up of pygmies called Twas. One of the most densely populated African countries.

- CAPITAL: Bujumbura (population 300,000)

- LANGUAGES: Kirundi (national), French (administrative), Swahili (local)

- RELIGION: Christian (67 percent); Muslim (10 percent); animistpercent)

- HISTORY: A German colony until the World War I, after which the country became a Belgian protectorate. Gained independence on July 1, 1962, first as a kingdom before becoming a republic in 1966.

Inter-ethnic massacres have occurred periodically throughout Burundi's post-colonial history, notably in 1972 when around 200,000 Hutus were killed, and again in 1988 for which estimates of the number of victims vary from 5,000 to 50,000.

A civil war begun in 1993 has killed an estimated 300,000 people.

In November 1976, Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza was brought to power in a coup d'etat. He won the country's first presidential elections based on universal suffrage in 1984.

Bagaza was overthrown in 1987 and replaced by Pierre Buyoya. Both men are ethnic Tutsis.

Melchior Ndadaye, the first Hutu president, elected in June 1993, was assassinated in October of the same year during a failed uprising organized by Tutsi military officers.

His successor, Cyprien Ntaryamira -- another Hutu -- was killed in April 1994 at the same time as Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, when the latter's plane is shot down over Kigali.

The Hutu president Sylvestre Ntibantunganya was overthrown in a non-violent coup in July 1996, and Buyoya returned to power.

In 1998, Buyoya reformed the constitution to create a transition government and began peace talks with Hutu and Tutsi opposition groups.

In August 2000 a peace agreement including a power-sharing deal was signed in Arusha, Tanzania, but the two main armed rebel groups refused to participate. Civil war continued to rage.

In November 2001, Buyoya took over as transitional leader for a period of 18 months. A 26-member power-sharing government was also sworn in to oversee the three-year transition.

A ceasefire agreement was signed in December 2002 by the government and the main Hutu rebel movement, the Front for the Defence of Democracy, has been repeatedly violated. A second Hutu armed group, the National Liberation Forces, refuses to enter into talks with the government.

- POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: The transitional government provides for power-sharing principally between Buyoya's Tutsi-dominated Unity for National Progress (UPRONA) and the Hutu party, the Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU).

- ECONOMY/RESOURCES: Burundi is an agricultural country, but the widespread violence has driven increasing numbers to abandon their crops. The economy, based mainly on coffee and tea, has suffered greatly as a consequence.

Burundi is the world's third poorest country, according to the World Bank.

Buyoya declared in April 2002 that more than 60 percent of Burundians live beneath the poverty line.

International aid donors announced in November 2002 they would give Burundi 905 million dollars over the next three years for an economic recovery program.

- GNP: 110 dollars per capita

- EXTERNAL DEBT: 648 million dollars

- ARMED FORCES: The Tutsi-run armed forces number about 45,500, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

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