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Burundi |
CIVIL WAR
The situation has hardly changed.
The civil war continues and the politicians
still cannot reach agreement
At Arusha, in Northern Tanzania an Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Burundi was signed on 28 August 2000. On that occasion the Burundi government, the National Assembly and seventeen political parties and movements, except the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) and the National Liberation Forces (FNL), undertook to put an end to the political crisis which has bedeviled the country since 21 October, 1993, the day of the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye who had been democratically elected in June that same year.
Since then the situation has hardly changed. Civil war continues and politicians have not yet agreed on who should be in charge during the transition period between the signing of the peace agreement and the holding of democratic elections. Meanwhile, the two rebel movements which boycotted the Arusha negotiations, the FDD of Jean Bosco Ndayikengurukiye and the FNL of Cossan Kabura (he has just been dropped as commander of the armed movement and replaced by Agathon Rwasa) have intensified the armed struggle in the field and even threatened to take over Bujumbura. At the end of February and the beginning of March, the FNL occupied the Kinama suburb to the north of the capital for two weeks. The engagement with government military forces resulted in 200 dead.
Short history of the peace process
Since the assassination of President Ndadaye, Burundi politicians have experienced many difficulties in putting in place a stable presidential arrangement capable of guaranteeing peace and security for all. Several formula have been tried: election of the head of state by parliament (February 1993), government convention (September 1994), another coup d’etat by Major Pierre Bugoya (July 1996), political coalition (June 1998) between the putschist regime and the rest of the legal regime of 1993. But none of these attempts produced political stability.
In 1998 when the heads of state of the Great Lakes region invited the former president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, to mediate in the Burundi conflict, politicians together with the whole population applauded and believed that at last there would be a quick solution to the conflict. This wise old African had a thorough understanding of the Burundi people, since in the sixties he had been a friend of Louis Rwagasore who led the country to independence. Thus, thanks to Nyerere, communication between political enemies was established. Nevertheless, some of the Burundi negotiators, the Tutsi, accused the mediator of being in biased on the side of the Hutu.
After the death of Julius Nyerere (end of 1999), another wise old African took over. Nelson Mandela, affectionately called «Madiba», the former South African president, rekindled hope in Burundi. For the method used by Mandela gave a new urgency to the Arusha negotiations. The non-military parties signed a new peace accord only eight months after the official entry of the respected Madiba on the scene. In fact it is rather difficult to resist him; his charisma and international standing impressed everybody. Thanks to him also the peace process caught the attention of the world. Nelson Mandela succeeded in interesting the great powers of the world, including the American giant, so that they began to take notice of the problems of Burundi. The signing of the peace accord on August 28, 2000 was covered by the world press. It was the work of Mandela, whom the people of Burundi praised and respected for his leadership and his impartiality in dealing with the politics of Burundi.
However, it has to be admitted that success on the political plane has not been matched on the military level. The FDD and the FNL continued to refuse to participate in the Arusha process, in spite of the insistence of the mediator. The file was passed on to the South African vice president, Jacob Zuma, who is working together with the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) and Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon. Also, the Burundians regularly accuse neighbouring Tanzania of harbouring armed groups of the FNL who attack Burundi. The same government spokesmen point the finger at the Kinshasa regime, which has integrated the FDD rebels into its armed forces in their struggle against the Rwanda-Uganda coalition in the RDC.
In the meantime, the beginning of the application of the Lusaka Accords (July 1999) which requires the withdrawal of foreign troops from Congo RDC and the deployment of UN forces in that country, is considered a danger for Burundi. The Bujumbura regime continually expresses its apprehension by emphasising that normalisation of the political and security situation in Congo RDC would coincide with an escalation of armed violence in Burundi. The FDD, forced to abandon its military foothold in Congo RDC would shift the war in Congo to the interior of Burundi.
Attempted putsch
On 18 April 2001, while the President, Pierre Bugoya, was absent in Libreville, Gabon, to negotiate with the leaders of the FDD rebellion, Burundi experienced its umpteenth attempted coup d’etat. Gaston Ntakarautimana who claimed on the national radio station to be the leader of the mutineers, condemned the continuation of the war in spite of the peace negotiations, the misery and the famine which is ravaging the country, as well as the «belly-patriotism» of those who go to negotiate political jobs in Arusha. The analysis made by this subaltern was welcomed by the majority of public opinion in Burundi, though they did not approve of the means used in a military adventure. In fact for many Burundians, change is necessary but not by way of a military take-over, for instead of remedying the situation, it would make things worse.
However, the attempted putsch by some forty soldiers should have taught the politicians a salutary lesson in the present crisis situation. Eight months after the signing of the peace accord, there is neither peace nor security in the country and the mediator, Mandela, tried in vain to get the two armed groups the FDD and the FNL to agree to the peace process. Several factors explain this failure.
In the first place, Nelson Mandela erred in his assessment of the situation by associating with the heads of state of Uganda and Rwanda, who are looked on as enemies of the two rebel forces and their allies in the Kinshasa government coalition.
Then the two Burundi rebel movements did not want to be placed on an equal footing with other political parties who have no military forces on the ground. The FDD and the FNL demand direct negotiations with the Bujumbura regime, and particularly the reform of the army (meaning the integration of their combat units into the national army).
Besides, there is strong rivalry between the FDD and the FNL concerning the leadership of the Hutu community, The FNL which is the armed wing of the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu people (Palipehutu, founded in 1980), claim to be the only real protectors of Hutu interests, by reason of their seniority in the armed struggle. But the FDD, the armed branch of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD), founded in 1994) believe that they are better placed to incarnate the aspiration of the people of Burundi to be ruled democratically.
Conclusion
In the present day context of a regional state of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the heavy traffic in light arms in the whole of central Africa, it is an illusion to believe in an isolated peace in Burundi. The Burundian situation which cannot be solved by a simple coup d’etat, could not have a durable solution unless the Congo conflict is settled peacefully, and the Rwanda situation is stabilised and Tanzania gets more involved in the solving the problem of thousands of Burundi refugees who reside in its territory. The Burundi refugee camps in Tanzania are an excellent nursery for recruiting young people who are tired of being exiles. Would Nelson Mandela then be amiable enough to resolve this problem?
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PeaceLink 2001 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement