On 8 July 1966, a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

took place in the

Kingdom of Burundi The Kingdom of Burundi (), also known as Kingdom of Urundi (), was a Bantu peoples, Bantu kingdom in the modern-day Burundi, Republic of Burundi. The Ganwa monarchs (with the title of ''List of kings of Burundi, mwami'') ruled over both Hutus and ...

. The second in Burundi's post-independence history, the coup ousted the government loyal to the king (''mwami'') of Burundi, Mwambutsa IV, who had gone into exile in October 1965 after the failure of an earlier coup d'état.

Background

The first coup attempt had been led by members of the Hutu ethnic group and was provoked by rising ethnic tensions between the Hutu and Burundi's Tutsi ruling class. The July 1966 coup was an extreme Tutsi counter-reaction against what they saw as Mwambutsa's dangerous moderate tendencies in trying to balance Hutu and Tutsi demands in government.

Events

On 24 March 1966, shortly after going into exile, Mwambutsa had delegated his royal powers to his son, the 18-year-old Crown Prince Charles Ndizeye. On 8 July 1966, forces loyal to Ndizeye overthrew the pro-Mwambutsa government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Léopold Biha. Ndizeye announced that he was assuming the role of head of state of Burundi. He suspended the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, dismissed Biha, and asked the 26-year-old Captain

Michel Micombero Michel Micombero (26 August 194016 July 1983) was a Burundian military officer and politician who ruled the country as ''de facto'' military dictator for the decade between 1966 and 1976. He was the last Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Burundi ...

, a Tutsi army officer who had played a major role in the coup, to form a new government. On 12 July, Micombero's government was installed with himself as prime minister. On 1 September, Ndizeye had himself crowned as ''Mwami'' Ntare V. Ntare promised to Burundi strong leadership, anti-corruption measures, and a new constitution. However, tension developed between Ntare, who wanted to actively rule as a monarch, and Micombero's government, which had aligned itself to reform and saw little need for an involved king.

Aftermath

Less than five months later, Micombero led a third coup d'etat on 28 November which ousted Ntare. Micombero abolished Burundi's monarchy and declared the nation a republic. This allowed Micombero to establish a

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

with UPRONA as the only legal party, which would last until his own overthrow in a military coup in 1976. Ntare V fled into exile but returned to the country from

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

in 1972, at which time he was assassinated under circumstances that have yet to be fully explained.

References

Works cited

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:1966 07 Burundian coup d'etat July coup

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

Military coups in Burundi 1960s coups d'état and coup attempts July 1966 in Africa