After the bombings in Uganda last summer Somalia's militant group Al-shabaab threatened that Burundi would be next. So far, not much has been heard from Al-shabaab in East Africa. For now Burundi seems to be pre-occupied with calming tensions among its own population. 

By Zack Baddorf

Up on a hilltop overlooking the vast green countryside and countless rolling hills, 28-year-old Suleyman Aronge sways from side to side beating a traditional Burundian drum. He and about 20 others are wearing tunics coloured red, green and white - the colors of Burundi's flag.

Aronge lives in Burundi's countryside like the majority of the country's 10 million people. With little access to media, Aronge hadn't heard that the Somali militant group al Shabaab promised to attack Burundi after taking credit for the deadly bombings in Uganda on July 11 that left 76 people dead.

Uganda and Burundi both have a few thousand troops in Somalia under the African Union.

Aronge says he's not afraid of the terrorist threat: “We think our army is able to stop those attacks. We hope such an attack will never happen in our country."

Internal threats
However, the threat of attacks may not come from outside anymore - but from within Burundi. A string of violent attacks, including 14 murders in late September, have spurred speculation of a return to civil war. Heavily armed men in new military uniforms have been reportedly seen in Burundi's countryside.

A 13-year civil war between Hutu rebels and the Tutsi-controlled government ended in 2006 but left about 300,000 dead. About 86 percent of the population is Hutu. The rest are mostly Tutsis.

In Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, 22-year-old Gloria Kaneza doesn't like to think of people along ethnic lines.

Kaneza is a Tutsi student and is going to marry a Hutu: "I cannot judge someone because he is Tutsi or Hutu because there are Tutsi who are not so good and there are Hutu who are not so good,” she says. “You can judge someone by his actions, his heart, what he is doing."

Discrimination still exist
But she does acknowledge discrimination between the two ethnic groups still exists, but she's optimistic that her country will be "very beautiful" in the future.

Other Burundians agree. Jacques Mafarakura, a 55-year-old museum curator in Gitega, said life has never been better in Burundi.

“If you look at the way people live, they produce more wealth than they have in the past. They have more. Although it is not very obvious, things have improved,” he said.

Economy: Not so bad
The East African Common Market, which started in July, could make the economy stronger.

Burundi and four other nearby countries now have a formal agreement, allowing people, goods, and services to travel across borders with less taxes and less red tape.

That's good news for Elias Dina, who sells phones and phone covers in Burundi.

“The Burundian economy is not as bad as before, because we have our own products, like rice, that are good at the moment. Now that East Africa has come into play, Burundians will have good things and cheap stuff, too,” said the 29-year-old salesman.

Fraud is everywhere
The International Monetary Fund expects Burundi's economy to grow by nearly 4 percent this year, mostly thanks to its production of coffee and tea export.

But this summer, Transparency International named Burundi the most corrupt nation in East Africa with a corruption prevalence of nearly 37 percent. Burundi's revenue authority and police force topped the list ofmost corrupt institutions in the region.

“Corruption is everywhere around here,” says Dina. “It's alive here. It's going on.” He said sometimes the police just work things out on the streets.”

Corruption isn't the only problem facing Burundi. Opposition groups claimed massive fraud and a crackdown on dissent in the country's series of elections this summer.

Jean de Dieu Mutabazi, the leader of an opposition party that boycotted the elections, said political alternatives are needed to build a "strong Burundian society."

“The problems will be from now on, since the ruling party will have all the powers and they will have the tendency to dictate everything to the people. The opposition is weak,” said Mutabazi.

Despite the claims of human rights abuses and electoral fraud, the ruling party claims the political environment in Burundi is improving.

"The democracy in Burundi is now taking place, slowly of course. We are in the beginning but we see that we are going well,” said Jeremy Ndikumana, the ruling party president.

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