Ikiza

Ikiza
Contemporary United States Central Intelligence Agency map of Burundi showing areas of Hutu rebel activity and refugee concentrations from the Ikiza
LocationBurundi
DateApril–August 1972
TargetHutus, particularly the educated and elite; some Tutsi-Banyaruguru
Attack type
Genocide, mass murder
Deaths100,000–300,000
PerpetratorsTutsi-Hima dictatorship
MotiveRetribution for Hutu rebellion

The Ikiza (variously translated from Kirundi as the Catastrophe, the Great Calamity, and the Scourge), or the Ubwicanyi (Killings), was a series of mass killings—often characterised as a genocide—which were committed in Burundi in 1972 by the Tutsi-dominated army and government, primarily against educated and elite Hutus who lived in the country. Conservative estimates place the death toll of the event between 100,000 and 150,000 killed, while some estimates of the death toll go as high as 300,000.