April 2001 in Africa

The 2001 Burundian coup d'état attempt was a bloodless military coup attempt by a group of junior Tutsi Army officers that took place in Burundi on 18 April 2001. The coup took place while the President, Pierre Buyoya, was in Gabon attending peace talks with the Hutu rebel group who had been fighting the government during the Burundian Civil War. The conspirators briefly occupied the state-run radio station in Bujumbura, but were quickly removed by forces loyal to Buyoya.

Parliamentary elections were held in Senegal on 29 April 2001 to elect members of the National Assembly. They were the first held under the new constitution approved by a referendum earlier in the year. Following the victory of Abdoulaye Wade in the February–March 2000 presidential election, the Sopi Coalition, including Wade's Senegalese Democratic Party and its allies, won a large majority.

The Ellis Park Stadium disaster was a crowd crush that occurred on 11 April 2001, claiming the lives of 43 people, surpassing the Oppenheimer Stadium disaster as one of the most severe sporting accidents in South African history. Spectators poured into the Ellis Park Stadium in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, for the local Soweto derby association football match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. There was a 60,000-capacity crowd in the stadium, but reports suggest a further 30,000 more fans were trying to gain entry to the stadium. Reports also suggest that 120,000 fans were admitted into the stadium. An Orlando Pirates equaliser sparked a further surge by the fans trying to gain entry as they scrambled to see what had happened. The match was stopped after approximately 34 minutes of play when authorities received a high volume of reported injuries.