After independence in 1961, these divisions were further exploited by Tutsi extremists who wanted to take control of the state. As a consequence, the decades that followed were wracked by violence between the dominant Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority.

By 1993, Burundians seemed poised to enter a new era when they chose a Hutu head of state, Melchior Ndadaye, during the country's first democratic elections. Within a few months, however, Ndadaye had been assassinated, and the stage was set for the 10-year civil war that followed.