On the evening of March 31, a military ammunition depot in the capital erupted in a chain of explosions that shook the entire city. The army's rapid attribution to an electrical accident conceals a structural crisis years in the making.
At approximately 18:00 on March 31, residents across Bujumbura heard the first detonations. Within minutes, the explosions were multiplying — massive, directional, and sustained. The blasts did not originate from a single point. They radiated from a military base south of the capital, reaching residential districts as far as Nyakabiga and Gihosha.
Burundi's weapons accumulation — driven by its military engagements in the DRC and domestic security pressures — has created storage conditions that independent security analysts had flagged as dangerously inadequate.