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He added that there was no particular risk to the 900 French nationals in Burundi, including 800 in Bujumbura.
The first trouble came before Ndadaye was invested, with a coup attempt by Tutsi officers on July 3. This was put down quickly as the army, led then by chief of staff Colonel Michel Mibarurwa, proved loyal to the new president.
Ndadaye appeared Thursday to have been betrayed by the men he placed to head the army and those politicians he freed.
Like neighbouring Rwanda, another densely populated highland nation, Burundi has been wracked by outbreaks of strife between the Hutu majority and their Tutsi overlords.
Some 200,000 Hutus were massacred in 1972, ten years after independence from Belgium, and another wave of violence claimed at least 5,000 lives in 1988, according to official figures.
sa/nb AFP AFP
