CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Burundi |
CIVIL WAR
Burundi’s political and security situation
Towards the end of 2002, the government signed three cease-fire agreements with three rebel movements, or factions of these movements. On 7 October 2002, with the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) led by a young colonel, Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, and with the National Forces for Liberation (FNL) led by Alain Mugabarabona. On 3 December 2002, another cease-fire agreement was reached with a faction of the FDD led by Pierre Nkurunziza. In spite of these agreements, fighting is still taking place. Why?
Burundi is now between two critical periods in its peace process. After almost ten years of civil war, the politicians, meeting with the former South African President, Nelson Mandela, the principal mediator in the crisis, agreed on: The reasons for Burundi’s civil war; the problems involved in ensuring good governance for the country; how to help war victims; how to go about rebuilding the nation.
During the negotiations which took place in Arusha, Tanzania, the politicians were also able to agree on a number of practical points for Burundi’s future — jobs in the government, the administration, the diplomatic service, etc. But the average Burundian is still awaiting the most important element of all — peace.
Agreements violated
After the signing on 28 August 2000, of the Arusha Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation, the armed political movements which had not taken part in the negotiations, intensified the war, and caused as many civilian victims as military. Within the National Council for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD), there were a number of members who were completely against the agreement: in particular the FDD. The government of national unity resulting from the Arusha Agreement, wanted to involve all the rebel groups so as to bring about an overall peace agreement. Painstaking talks held in Pretoria and Cape Town (in South Africa); in Arusha (Tanzania) and Libreville (Gabon) between 2000 and 2002, ended up convincing the FDD rebels (including all its various factions) and the FNL to sign a truce with the government.
As mentioned above, this signing took place on 7 October 2002 with Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye’s FDD and Alain Mugabarabona’s FNL; and on 3 December with Pierre Nkurunziza’s FDD. Thus, for the first time since 1994, Christmas and New Year were times of peace and tranquillity in the capital, Bujumbura. The only shots heard were fired by government soldiers, around midnight, to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.
But can we say the war is really over? Far from it. The truce was short-lived. Since the beginning of 2003, the army has regularly accused the FDD rebels of cease-fire violations. The rebels had agreed to suspend hostilities; to stop acts of violence against the population and any action likely to block the implementation of the peace process. But what’s been happening? Just the opposite — attacks in the north, the west and the east; armed robberies, pillaging, malicious damage to property.
In the Archdiocese of Gitega (central Burundi), Christians were forced by armed gangs to halt their Sunday Mass and to hand over money to the gangsters. During the third week of January 2003, nearly 60,000 people were displaced from the Province of Gitega, following fighting between the government army and the FDD rebels. In western Burundi’s bush countryside, south of Bujumbura, the army has also been fighting a faction of the FNL rebels, in particular a group led by Agathon Rwasa.
Burundi is part of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, so to understand why the civil war never seems to end, it’s necessary to know something about that region’s geopolitics.
Nearly ten years ago, two national armies disintegrated. In Rwanda, in July 1994, President Juvénal Habyarimana’s Rwandan Forces were defeated in a rebellion, led by General Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Forces. General Kagame is Rwanda’s current President.
In Congo RDC (Congo-Kinshasa) in 1997, Marshal Mobutu’s Zairean Armed Forces were beaten in a rebellion led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila. It’s an open secret that Burundian rebels have been supplied with weapons from the two defeated armies which disappeared into the bush in eastern Congo. Military instructors with Burundi’s rebel movements have also been recruited from former Rwandan soldiers.
Also, after the New Year, the European Union supplied food to the FDD in their Kibira hide-out (dense forest in the north-west of Burundi). This was a humanitarian gesture carried out by Germany’s assistance programme (GTZ) but was interpreted by some as providing lifeblood to a rebellion which seemed to be going nowhere. The fact can’t be denied, however, that nowhere else in the world has an armed rebellion been fed by the international community. Some political observers see this as an attempt to give peace a chance, by removing from the FDD the pretext of hunger for continuing its plundering.
A new agreement
On 27 January 2003, the FDD and Alain Mugabarabona’s FNL fighters signed a Memorandum of Understanding with President Buyoya, covering a permanent suspension of the hostilities and an end to all forms of violence. In this interrelated agreement, the FDD were able to pin-point places where their fighters in Kibira and the Eastern province of Ruyigi could be supplied with food. The signatories also agreed on the setting-up of a joint cease-fire commission. Military observers from the African Union will supervise the implementation of the agreement, but they must be quickly deployed. The rebel leaders, Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye and Alain Mugabarabona, said they would be prepared to return from exile on 10 February 2003, so as to participate in the instruments of transition (government, lower and upper houses of parliament.
What remains disconcerting is that the Palipehutu-FNL‘s other leader, Agathon Rwasa, continues to stay away from the negotiating table and his fighters are still in western Burundi’s bush, from where they make incursions against army positions overlooking Lake Tanganyika. They are also murdering local officials, accusing them of being on good terms with the government soldiers. They force people to hand over their goods in kind and in money, and from time to time kidnap civilians. It seems however, that Rwasa’s FNL are not completely insensitive to calls for peace. The Catholic Bishops of Bujumbura and Bubanza, and the leader of a recently-founded political party, the PanAfrican Socialist Movement-Inkinzo, have taken the initiative to call for a political mediation with the government, and this is starting to bear fruit. Mr. Agathon Rwasa has now agreed to meet with Nelson Mandela to explain why he’s had to resort to arms.
Another factor — Burundians are victims of the rivalry between Tanzanians and South Africans in the mediation process. Tanzania, which hosted the peace negotiations which led to the historical 28 August 2000 agreement, has been accused by Bujumbura of being used as a base camp for FDD fighters. And on a number of occasions, the FDD has accused the South African facilitator to the current talks, Jacob Zuma, of favouring the Burundian government’s point of view. Tanzanians must also feel frustrated at not being asked to send peace-keeping troops to Burundi, whereas South Africans, Mozambicains and Ethiopians will form part of such a force.
Uncertainties
In all the political negotiations for ending Burundi’s civil war, the government has always had to negotiate from a position of weakness. It’s hard to continually beg the rebels to stop fighting, but the government doesn’t have any other choice. A three years’ embargo (1996-1999) has also seriously weakened the government’s situation; the State’s coffers are empty; promises made by donor nations and organisations during meetings in Paris and Geneva (2001 and 2002), are taking a long time to actually realize; there are innumerable problems among teachers and within the judicial system; the national currency has drastically depreciated (in 1985, $1 = 90 Fbur; in 2003, $1 = 1.050 Fbur); the price of coffee, Burundi’s main export product, has fallen on the international market.
And there’s always the threat that hostilities will break out again. Three former rebel leaders who signed the Arusha Agreement in August 2000, say they are awaiting the reorganization of the security forces before bringing in their fighters «from the cold» The leaders in questions are: The CNDD‘s Léonard Nyangoma; Joseph Karumba’s Front for the National Liberation (FROLINA); Etienne Karatasi’s Party for the Freedom of the Hutu People (Palipehutu). The armed groups which have just signed the cease-fire agreements in Pretoria, are dissenting factions of these parties.
Most of Burundi’s population live in the countryside (more than 90%) and don’t know which way to turn. In areas where the rebels have the upper hand, they’ve no other choice than to cooperate with the armed gangs, otherwise they’ll be murdered. This «cooperation» takes the form of providing cash, food, transport of material and housing the rebels. It generally takes place during the night. During the day, the same population seems to get along with the government armed forces. It is an unhealthy situation.
Now that new cease-fire agreements have been signed, one can but hope that the worst moments have ended, and that the country is finally on the road to a peaceful settlement.