1972 in Burundi

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1972
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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 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]

^ 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
^ Watt, p34
^ "Slaughter in Burundi: How Ethnic Conflict Erupted", New York Times, June 11, 1972, p1

v t e 1972 in Africa
Sovereign states	Algeria Botswana Burundi Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Republic of the Congo Dahomey Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Niger Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South-West Africa Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Upper Volta Zambia Zaire
States with limited recognition	Rhodesia
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Ascension Island Djibouti Réunion Saint Helena Spanish Sahara Tristan da Cunha