In August 1996, following the military coup lead by Major Pierre Buyoya in July, exacerbating the civil war, a coalition of seven states from Central and Eastern Africa, the DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, agreed to place sanctions and an arms embargo on Burundi. The intention was to force the government into negotiations with opposition forces.
On 23 January 1999, in light of peace talks aiming to end the civil war, the seven states agreed to suspend both the sanctions and the arms embargo.