Nestled in the heart of Africa, tiny Burundi is a land of rolling green hills and endless smiles. Surrounded by Tanzania to the East, Congo Kinshasa to the West, and Rwanda to the North, Burundi has suffered through years of civil strife but its people remain devoutly optimistic. The recent peace treaty signed by government and rebel forces will hopefully justify this optimism. Once a proud independent Kingdom, Burundi was first colonized by Germany in 1903. Following World War I , Burundi , then Urundi, was annexed by Belgium who held the country as an independent state until full independence was achieved in 1962. Decades of violence followed the country’s independence. Like its neighbor to the North, Rwanda , Burundi was flung into the chaos of ethnic strife with the assassination of its newly elected President in 1993.