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Burundi - Journalism and ethnic conflicts
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Ethnic conflicts: a challenge for journalists of the Great Lakes region
For the past ten years, the Great Lakes region in Central Africa has been living through a state of political turmoil from which there seems to be no way out. Because a number of foreign powers have intervened in Congo RDC , some observers of the political scene have gone so far as to describe the situation there as a «first African world war». In Rwanda, General Paul Kagamé followed constitutional procedure for taking over as President. But he’s faced with two major challenges: How to extricate himself honourably from the Congolese mess in which his army is implicated, (the official reason for the army being there in the first place is to once and for all crush the interahamwe genocide militiamen); how to calm the bitterness of those marked indelibly by the 1994 genocide. The crisis has been on-going in Burundi since October 1993, despite several attempts to resolve this conflict which has already cost the international community millions and millions of dollars. The present Arusha Peace Negotiations are for many, the only possible solution for achieving reconciliation between the two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi, who, ever since Burundi’s independence in 1962, have been tearing each other apart so as to gain power. Given that the ethnic composition of Burundi is almost the same as that of Rwanda, political problems are felt in almost the same way on both sides of the border.
Burundi and Rwanda seem to have exported their ethnic difficulties to their western neighbour, Congo RDC , which is already on its second «liberation» war, to the point of creating an anti-Tutsi feeling within the Congolese population. Journalists from Burundi, Rwanda and Congo have to work in this kind of political atmosphere.
From one-party to multi-party politics
Ten years ago, these three countries still had a one-party system of government. The Media’s official mission in these circumstances, was to inform, instruct and entertain following the dictates of the state-run single-party in power. One would hear of ethnic conflicts in countries such as Somalia and Liberia only in a far-off way. Never in their wildest dreams, could journalists of the still peaceful Great Lakes region imagine that such barbarity was about to become a reality closer to home.
The Media has a major role to play in reporting the progress of the democratic process, and democracy ensures that human rights are respected. The birth and rapid spread of private newspapers between 1990 and 1996 in Burundi, Rwanda and in Congo RDC are a follow-on from the advent of democracy. Burundi had five newspapers in 1990; by 1996 the number has risen to 39. However, some people say that a changeover to multi-party politics increases the danger of accentuating ethnic differences in the three countries.
In Burundi, that fear became a reality during the electoral campaign in May 1993, when the Hutu leaders openly supported Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, as their candidate for the presidency. The Tutsi leaders gave their support to incumbent President Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi (who had seized power in 1987). Slogans composed for the election campaign reflected the ethnic bias. For example, the Union for National Progress (UPRONA ) had billboards which read: «Buyoya, the President who decides — Ndadaye, the President who decimates — Sendegeya, the President who draws». It should be remembered that there were three presidential candidates for the 1993 elections. Burundi’s current President, Pierre Buyoya; Melchior Ndadaye, leader of the Burundi Democratic Front (FRODEBU ); and Pierre-Clavier Sendegeya, an artist, and member of the pro-royalist party, the Party for the Reconciliation of the People (PRP ). Looking back on events of that time, it’s clear that UPRONA was out to destroy Melchior Ndadaye’s reputation in the eyes of the electorate by telling them he was going to eliminate his opponents, once elected President. Their accusations were based purely on Ndadaye’s ethnic origin (Hutu).
In this, UPRONA ‘s militants had some success because they managed to influence certain elements of the armed forces. It should be recalled that a number of Burundian newspapers had called on the army to be ready to arbitrate in the event of a change in government. The actual elections on 1 June 1993 passed off peacefully. Democracy was thought to have prevailed and Burundi had its first Hutu President, Melchior Ndadaye. (24 hours after the publication of the election results, there was an attempted coup by a handful of Tutsi soldiers. Their plot was foiled). But on the night of the 21 October 1993, a second military coup took place. Tutsi paratroopers seized President Ndadaye and assassinated him. They then turned on other prominent ministers and officials. One section of the Press with Hutu leanings, dared to condemn the army for acting as a pro-Tutsi ethnic faction, rather than a national army supposed to protect the country and its Constitution.
In the period leading up to the 1993 elections, the state-controlled Press had supported Pierre Buyoya. His defeat at the polls fell like a thunderclap on the heads of those journalists who had been his most ardent supporters during his election campaign. Many of these gentlemen of the Press considered Melchior Ndadaye’s and FRODEBU ‘s victory to be purely and simply a Hutu victory over the Tutsis. Ethnic loyalties among the independent press, however, depended on who ran that particular publication.
About the same time, some extremist newspapers and other publications hit the streets. For example: Tutsi publications —La Nation, La Balance, Le Républicain, L’Etoile; Hutu publications — Le Témoin Nyabusorongo, Le Miroir, L’Eclaireur. During the period 1994-1996, these various publications revelled in a climate of ethnic hatred, lies, calumny and the way in which their articles stirred up antagonism. So much so, that the National Communications Council had to suppress a number of titles which had already been described by Reporters Without Frontiers as «The Media of Hate».
What went wrong with the Media?
This ethnic downward spiral by the journalists can be explained in a number of ways. Some of them went along with the party leaders’ game, wallowing in a climate of hatred and corruption. Others fell into what has to be called «the ethnic ghetto.» During the latter part of 1993 and the early part of 1994, ethnic lines were drawn. Certain areas of the capital, Bujumbura, became «no-go» areas to members of the «other» ethnic group. In other words, what has come to be known in our days as «ethnic purification» was taking place. Journalists became part of this movement depending on their ethnic origins.
This bitterness has persisted in every aspect of social life, including the bars. Everyone is obliged to stay in his/her own area. Even the cemeteries were separated in 1994. The Hutus in the capital buried their dead at Rusabagi while the Tutsi buried theirs at Mpanda. Obviously an extreme and absurd situation. In Bujumbura, the Churches are perhaps the only organisations which have tried to get communities together because even in schools, ethnic fighting has become quite common. That is the type of atmosphere in which the Burundi journalist lived, especially between 1994 and 1996.
The situation is no better for journalists living and working away from the capital. For example, provincial correspondents of the Burundi News Agency (BNA ) have had to be shuffled around because some of them were working in an «ethnically hostile» region. The BNA office of Rural Bujumbura, is obliged to have two correspondents, a Tutsi for the mountain region of Mugamba which is mostly Tutsi, and a Hutu for the Imbo region, which is mainly Hutu. In normal circumstance, one correspondent would be sufficient to cover that whole province which is a fairly compact area.
Listeners and viewers of Burundi’s radio and television programmes have often said they can recognise the ethnic status of a reporter from his appearance or the sound of his voice. In general, Hutu journalists tend to emphasise the 1993 coup d’etat during which «their» Hutu President was murdered; Tutsi journalists on the other hand, emphasise the 1988 massacres when, following the takeover by Major Pierre Buyoya, some 600 Tutsis were massacred. Finally, the language used in the Press also reveals the ethnic status of one or other journalist who would have preferred to remain anonymous. Victims of Burundi’s civil war are described in different ways depending on their ethnic origins. Hutus are describe as «dispersed, regrouped, repatriated»; Tutsis as «displaced persons».
Journalists in Burundi have to experience certain pressures, some of them encouraging, others frightening. Reactions to these pressures are perhaps understandable considering the way in which they have been brought up inside their own «ghettos», and the way in which they now have to live. At the height of the crisis, many journalists were «visited» by neighbours, relatives, brothers, cousins and sometimes by excited youths who waited for them near their homes, either to congratulate them for such and such an article, or to shout them down for such and such a commentary. There have been numerous cases when journalists have received death threats from people who want media personnel to help them in their political and ethnic struggle. Consequently, some journalists have aligned themselves resolutely in one direction, whereas others, (the most honest and the best) have preferred to leave their chosen profession and seek employment elsewhere.
It’s obvious that the ethnic problem has a certain bearing on the armed conflicts in the Great Lakes region (Burundi, Rwanda, Congo RDC ). Which is no help to the journalists in their work or which, at the very least, will influence the journalists’ impartiality and objectivity. It’s a real challenge. Even today, can we say things have changed for the better? The years roll on but the problems remain the same, even if, at least in Burundi and Rwanda, things have become somewhat calmer. But let’s face it. Whatever the problem may be, political or ethnic, there’s no excuse for ignoring such basic issues as peace, human rights, democracy and reconciliation. The Media has no right, whatever the provocation, to speak out in favour of war, or issue calls for ethnic hatred or violence, or make excuses for crime, as has happened recently in the Great Lakes region.
But, journalists and journalism in this region has a future, especially when the individual journalist has sufficient courage to work with a sense of responsibility, with strict respect for ethical behaviour, and avoids falling into partisan sentimentality. Journalists in the Great Lakes region have still much to offer society in general by providing correct information, through fostering citizenship and not ethnic hatred, and in helping the population to provide itself peacefully with the means of achieving its economic and social advancement.
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