From independence in 1962, Burundi has been wracked by divisions between the Tutsi ruling minority and the Hutu majority. In 1993, a civil war erupted during the course of which over 300 000 people have died and many thousands more have taken refuge in neighbouring countries. A small country occupying a strategic location in the unstable Great Lakes region of Africa, Burundi's own convulsions have been intimately entangled with deadly conflicts in the neighbouring countries of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The authors outline the origins and nature of the conflict in Burundi, discuss the problems of establishing democracy in a region where ethnic conflict has occasioned genocide, trace the peace process in detail, and assess the prospects for the future. Their work seeks to illuminate the role played by South Africa since 1999 in Burundi's attempted transition to peace and democracy.