The rebels were frustrated with the king (mwami) of Burundi, Mwambutsa IV, who had repeatedly attempted to cement his control over the government and bypassed parliamentary norms despite Hutu electoral gains.

Although the prime minister was shot and wounded, the coup failed due to the intervention of a contingent of troops led by Captain Michel Micombero.

[1] On 13 October 1961, the Prime Minister of Burundi, UPRONA leader Louis Rwagasore, was assassinated in a plot devised by political rivals with the support of some Belgian officials.

[3] His murder also stoked divisions in UPRONA, and fueled a rivalry between Hutu politician Paul Mirerekano and the new Ganwa prime minister, André Muhirwa.

[5] Meanwhile, the Casablanca group grew increasingly close to the People's Republic of China, which used its connections in Burundi to support communist rebels in neighbouring states.

Fearing a Chinese-sponsored coup was being planned, in January 1965 Mwambutsa dismissed Prime Minister Albin Nyamoya and asked Hutu politician Pierre Ngendandumwe to form a new government.

[18] While seven of the other 10 portfolios were granted to Hutus, giving them their first cabinet majority since independence, Hutu parliamentarians felt that the Mwami continued to exercise outsized influence over the government and that they did not have true control.

[20] On 2 September Mwambutsa issued an arrêté-loi that reduced the number of communes in the country from 181 to 78 and made all burgomasters appointed functionaries responsible to the crown and the government instead of locally elected officials.

Hutu politicians were infuriated by the Mwami's bypassing of the parliamentary government in issuing the decree and by removing their potential to consolidate their strength in communal elections.

On 28 September a group of Hutu members of Parliament—including the officers of both the Assembly and the Senate—signed a letter declaring that they "absolutely refused to accept the provisions of the arrêté-loi".

[14] The recasting of the burgomasters was particularly sensitive since, after the elections, disruptions and complaints arose from the countryside involving disputes with local officials due to ethnic tensions and alleged discrimination.

[16] With resentment at the Mwami's increased involvement in politics building, talk of coup plots circulated among Hutu and Tutsi politicians and were repeated in reports by foreign observers.

[18] Late in the night on 18 October 1965, Secretary of State for the Gendarmerie Antoine Serukwavu left Kamenge with several jeeps and troops, headed towards the Mwami's palace.

Rusake and Harimenshi proceeded to launch an attack on the palace, while a Hutu army officer, Banikwa, went to his barracks presumably to gather reinforcements.

[21] According to a report compiled by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the putschists briefly entered the palace and killed 10 Tutsi soldiers.

[25] Shortly after the attempted putsch, bands of Hutu militants began attacking Tutsi families and setting fire to homes.

[38] As Mwambutsa fled to Europe he suspended the powers of the Biha government, leaving all authority with the ministries' director-generals, the secretaries of state, and the provincial governors.

[39] However, with the Mwami outside of the country and the prime minister incapable of discharging his duties, de facto governance fell to the army and the civil service.

[39] In December the Foreign Ministry ordered the expulsion of Donald A. Dumont, the United States Ambassador, accusing him of "rightly or wrongly" being under suspicion of having alleged contacts with the perpetrators of the coup attempt.

[44] In the meantime, young army officers, junior civil servants, and cadres from radical youth organisations—all mostly Tutsi—became increasingly aware of the influence which they had gained in government.

His usurpation was orchestrated by the young radicals and army officers with the hope that they could shape the nature of the Burundian regime while using the symbols of the monarchy to retain legitimacy.

[53] A plot by Hutu army personnel was uncovered in September 1969, and in response the Micombero regime purged the armed forces and government, solidifying Tutsi hegemony in the country.

Different accounts of the events are offered, with some scholars suggesting that the putschists located and addressed the Mwami in his palace, and some saying the coup failed when the rebellious soldiers and gendarmes began shooting at each other in confusion.