Burundian Civil War
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The Burundian Civil War was a
civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
in
Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...
lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the
Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...
and the
Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...
ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first
multi-party In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in c ...
elections in the country since its independence from
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
in 1962, and is seen as formally ending with the swearing-in of President
Pierre Nkurunziza Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 19648 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020. A member of the Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza taught ph ...
in August 2005. Children were widely used by both sides in the war. The estimated death toll stands at 300,000.


Background

Before becoming subject to European colonial rule, Burundi was governed by an ethnic Tutsi monarchy, similar to that of its neighbor
Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
. German, and subsequently Belgian, colonial rulers found it convenient to govern through the existing power structure, perpetuating the dominance of the Tutsi minority over the ethnic Hutu majority. The Belgians generally identified the ethnic distinctions in Burundi and Rwanda with the following observations: the
Twa Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...
who were short, the Hutu who were of medium height and the Tutsi who were tallest among them. Those individuals who owned more than ten cows were normally described as Tutsi. Burundi became independent in 1962, breaking from a colonial federation with Rwanda. The independent country initially preserved its monarchy. The country's first multi-party national elections were held in June 1993. These elections were immediately preceded by 25 years of Tutsi military regimes, beginning with
Michel Micombero Michel Micombero (26 August 194016 July 1983) was a Burundian politician and army officer who ruled the country as ''de facto'' military dictator for the decade between 1966 and 1976. He was the last Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Burundi fro ...
, who had led a successful coup in 1966 and replaced the monarchy with a presidential republic. Under the Micombero regime, the minority Tutsi generally dominated governance. In 1972, Hutu militants organized and carried out systematic attacks on ethnic Tutsi, with the declared intent of annihilating the whole group. The military regime responded with large-scale reprisals targeting Hutus. The total number of casualties was never established, but estimates for the Tutsi genocide and the reprisals on the Hutus together are said to exceed 100,000. As many refugees and asylum-seekers left the country for Tanzania and Rwanda. The last of the coups was in 1987 and installed Tutsi officer
Pierre Buyoya Pierre Buyoya (24 November 1949 – 17 December 2020) was a Burundian army officer and politician who served two terms as President of Burundi in 1987 to 1993 and 1996 to 2003. He was the second-longest serving president in Burundian history. An ...
. Buyoya attempted to institute a number of reforms to ease state control over media and attempted to facilitate a national dialogue. Instead of helping the problem, these reforms instead served to inflame ethnic tensions as hope grew among the Hutu population that the Tutsi monopoly was at an end. Local revolts subsequently took place by Hutu peasants against several Tutsi leaders in northern Burundi; these Hutu militias killed hundreds of Tutsi families in the process. When the army came to quell the uprising, they in turn killed thousands of Hutu, leading to an estimated death toll of between 5,000 and 50,000. A low-level insurgency developed, and the first Hutu rebel groups were formed. Most notable among these were Party for the Liberation of the Hutu PeopleNational Forces of Liberation (''Parti pour la libération du peuple HutuForces nationales de libération'', PALIPEHUTU-FNL) and National Liberation Front (''Front de libération nationale'', FROLINA) which had been active from the 1980s. Of the two, PALIPEHUTU-FNL much more powerful than FROLINA, but also suffered from more internal divisions. When a democratic transition began in Burundi in the early 1990s, the historical core leadership of PALIPEHUTU decided to cooperate with the Hutu-dominated
Front for Democracy in Burundi The Front for Democracy in Burundi (french: link=no, Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi, FRODEBU) is a Hutu progressive political party in Burundi. History It was formed by followers of Melchior Ndadaye from the disbanded Burundi Workers' ...
(''Front pour la démocratie au Burundi'', FRODEBU) party and to peacefully participate in politics. Radical members of PALIPEHUTU-FNL disagreed with this decision. In contrast, FROLINA was firmly unified under the command of Joseph Karumba, but always remained a rather weak and marginal group.


War


1993 coup and start of the conflict

After decades of military dictatorships, the
parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...
and
presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...
of June and July 1993 were the first ones in Burundi to be free and fair. FRODEBU decisively defeated the largely Tutsi
Union for National Progress The Union for National Progress (french: Union pour le Progrès national, UPRONA) is a nationalist political party in Burundi. It initially emerged as a nationalist united front in opposition to Belgian colonial rule but subsequently became an i ...
(''Union pour le progrès national'', UPRONA) of President Buyoya. Thus, FRODEBU leader
Melchior Ndadaye Melchior Ndadaye (28 March 1953 – 21 October 1993) was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 Burundi presidential election, 1993 elect ...
became Burundi's first democratically elected Hutu president. His tenure was wrought with problems from the beginning. Though PALIPEHUTU's leadership decided to cooperate with Ndadaye's new government, its military chief commander Kabora Kossan refused to end the insurgency. He and his followers split from PALIPEHUTU-FNL, and from then on simply called themselves "National Forces of Liberation" (FNL). For Kossan and his men the only option was to continue to fight until all Tutsi in Burundi were dead, removed or fully disempowered. Nevertheless, Ndadaye's government was more threatened by Tutsi extremists than by radical Hutu groups: The latter were still rather weak, whereas the former controlled much of Burundi's military. The political situation escalated when Tutsi extremist army officers launched a coup on 21 October. Supported by about half of the armed forces, the putschists murdered Ndadaye alongside other leading FRODEBU members, and declared a new regime. However, the military government was destabilized from the beginning, as it faced internal chaos and opposition by foreign powers. As a result of President Ndadaye's murder, violence and chaos broke out all over Burundi. Hutu attacked and killed many UPRONA supporters, most of them Tutsi but also some Hutu, while the putschists and allied Tutsi groups assaulted Hutu and FRODEBU sympathizers. Many civilians banded together in local militias to defend themselves, but these groups quickly became proactive as well, carrying out attacks and mass killings against each other. Urban street gangs, many of which had been biethnic before 1993, split along ethnic lines and began to work for extremist politicians. They received money and guns, and in return demonstrated, and murdered on the orders of the Tutsi and Hutu parties. An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people died within a year about as many Hutu as Tutsi. As result of this chaos and international pressure, the putschists' regime collapsed, and power was returned to a FRODEBU-dominated civilian government. The mass killings consequently abated, and the country was somewhat restabilized by the end of 1993. The coup and subsequent ethnic violence had however deeply affected the country. The Tutsi extremists in the military were still present, and though they had given up outright power for the time being, they continued to undermine the civilian government in hopes of regaining full power in the future. The Hutu rebels believed that the coup had proven the impossibility of negotiations, and regarded the new Hutu-dominated civilian government as mere "stooges" of the old regime. They consequently fully resumed their insurgency. Furthermore, radicals among the Tutsi civil society regarded FRODEBU as ''
génocidaires Génocidaires (, 'those who commit genocide') are Rwandans who are guilty of genocide due to their involvement in the mass killings which were perpetrated in Rwanda during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 Rwandans, primarily Tutsis and ...
'', believing that the party had initiated the anti-Tutsi mass killings following the 1993 coup. They thus organized demonstrations and strikes to bring down what they considered a criminal regime.


Decline of state authority, 1994–1996

A succession of bi-ethnic governments attempted to stabilize the country from early 1994 to July 1996, but all failed. Tutsi extremists in the army continued to undermine any attempt of FRODEBU to consolidate power, and parts of FRODEBU decided in early 1994 that compromise was no longer possible. Minister of Interior
Léonard Nyangoma Léonard Nyangoma (born 31 December 1952) is a Burundian politician and former rebel leader. Early life Léonard Nyangoma was born on 31 December 1952 in Rutundwe, Bururi Province, Burundi. He graduated from the University of Burundi in 1979 wit ...
led a FRODEBU faction into armed rebellion, creating the
National Council for the Defense of Democracy–Forces for the Defense of Democracy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
(''Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratieForces pour la défense de la démocratie'', CNDD-FDD). Nyangoma's group consequently became the most important Hutu rebel group, though PALIPEHUTU-FNL and FROLINA continued to be active. PALIPEHUTU-FNL was weakened by further rifts, and would fracture into numerous smaller factions over disagreements on negotiations and leadership during the civil war. With the exemption of the rather moderate CNDD-FDD, all Hutu militias embraced the radical
Hutu Power Hutu Power is a racial and ethnosupremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa, and that therefore they are entitled to dominate and murder these two groups and other mino ...
ideology and desired the extermination of all Burundian Tutsi. The Hutu insurgents received support by the neighboring countries of Zaire and
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, both of which allowed the rebels to set up bases on their territories from where they could launch raids into Burundi. The reasons for which they supported the insurgents differed greatly: Zairean President
Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...
believed that he could gain political leverage by harboring Rwandan and Burundian Hutu militants and refugees. They would suppress anti-Mobutu groups in Zaire, and give him something to bargain with the international community which sought to resolve the
Great Lakes refugee crisis The Great Lakes refugee crisis is the common name for the situation beginning with the exodus in April 1994 of over two million Rwandans to neighboring countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. Many ...
. In contrast, leading Tanzanian statesman
Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, aft ...
wanted the region to be stabilized and pacified, and believed that the existence of Burundi and Rwanda as independent states posed a security problem by itself. Ultimately, he desired for these states to be unified with Tanzania, regaining all territory that had formerly belonged to
German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozam ...
. In the short term, however, Nyerere believed that peace and order could only be achieved in Burundi through the inclusion of Hutu in the Burundian government and military. While the country further descended into civil war, the political situation in Burundi deteriorated. Ndadaye's successor
Cyprien Ntaryamira Cyprien Ntaryamira (6 March 1955 – 6 April 1994) was a Burundian politician who served as President of Burundi from 5 February 1994 until his death two months later. A Hutu born in Burundi, Ntaryamira studied there before fleeing to Rwanda ...
was assassinated in the same plane crash with Rwandan President
Juvenal Habyarimana Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...
on 6 April 1994. This act marked the beginning of the
Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...
, while in Burundi, the death of Ntaryamira exacerbated the violence and unrest, although there was no general massacre.
Sylvestre Ntibantunganya Sylvestre Ntibantunganya (born 8 May 1956) is a Burundian politician. He was President of the National Assembly of Burundi from 23 December 1993 to 30 September 1994, and President of Burundi from 6 April 1994 to 25 July 1996 (interim to October 1 ...
was installed to a four-year presidency on April 8, but the security situation further declined. The influx of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees and the activities of armed Hutu and Tutsi groups further destabilized the government. A coalition government, formed by the peaceful FRODEBU faction and UPRONA in September 1994, proved to be too weak and fractured to actually govern the country. With the civil authorities factually defunct, the military effectively held control of "what little state power remained". At the same time, the power of non-state actors increased. Though many self-defense groups had been disbanded after 1993, others transformed into larger ethnic militias. These groups included unofficial paramilitary wings of Hutu and Tutsi parties, independent extremist militias, and militant youth gangs. Notable Tutsi factions included the
Party for National Recovery The Party for National Recovery (, PARENA) is a minor political party in Burundi. It was founded in May 1994 by the former president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza. Bagaza, an ethnic Tutsi, had established a military dictatorship in Burundi from 1976 u ...
's (''Parti pour le redressement national'', PARENA) ''Imbogaraburundi'' ("those-who-will-bring-Burundi-back"), the
People's Reconciliation Party The People's Reconciliation Party (french: Parti de la Réconciliation des Personnes, PRP) is a minor political party in Burundi. History The party was established in September 1991 and registered on 30 June 1992.Tom Lansford (2014) ''Political ...
's (''Parti de la réconciliation des personnes'', PRP) ''Sans Echecs'' ("the unfailing ones"), and urban youth gangs like ''Sans Défaite'' ("the undefeated"), ''Sans Pitié'' ("the pitiless ones"), ''Sans Capote'' ("those-who-do-not-wear-condoms") which acted as forces for hire for various extremist Tutsi parties. Hutu parties like FRODEBU and FDD also raised supportive militias, ''Inziraguhemuka'' ("those-who-did-not-betray") and ''Intagoheka'' ("those-who-never-sleep") respectively, while the Hutu street gang "Chicago Bulls" from Bujumbura managed to expand into a small army. These militias undermined attempts by the government to restore peace. The Tutsi militias were often trained and armed by extremist factions in the Burundian military. With aid by the army, they defeated a number of Hutu militias, but also terrorized as well as displaced many Hutu civilians at
Bujumbura Bujumbura (; ), formerly Usumbura, is the economic capital, largest city and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country's chief export, coffee, as well as cotton and tin ore. Bujumbura was formerly the country's normal capital. In late ...
and other cities in 1995/96. Furthermore, the Tutsi
Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi, french: Front patriotique rwandais, FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. Led by President Paul Kagame, the party has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, winn ...
(''Front Patriotique Rwandais'', RPF) defeated the Hutu regime of Rwanda in July 1994, ending the
Rwandan Civil War The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose ...
and genocide. The military and paramilitary forces of old Rwandan Hutu regime (Ex- FAR/
ALiR Alir ( fa, الير, also Romanized as Ālīr) is a village in Chamsangar Rural District, Papi District, Khorramabad County, Lorestan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a co ...
and Interahamwe) subsequently fled across the border into Zaire. There, they rebuilt their strength and launched an insurgency against the RPF. The Burundian CNDD-FDD and PALIPEHUTU-FNL soon allied themselves with the Rwandan Hutu factions which consequently aided them in attacking the Burundian military. And despite the CNDD-FDD’s denial of these links,
Filip Reyntjens Filip Reyntjens (born 1952) is professor emeritus at University of Antwerp. His academic training is in constitutional law, but he later pivoted towards the study of politics especially of the Great Lakes region of Africa. Career In 1975, while ...
assessed how northern Burundi’s situation made Rwandan and Burundian Hutu rebel groups “objective allies” for geopolitical convenience, given an interest “in effectively controlling this area which could become a major base for an invasion of Rwanda by Rwandan exiles.” This situation, and the decline of state authority in Burundi, greatly alarmed the RPF-led government of Rwanda. The RPF feared that the collapse of the Burundian government would lead not only to the influx of possibly 500,000 Tutsi refugees into Rwanda, but also provide a new haven to the Rwandan Hutu insurgents. The Rwandan government thus began providing aid to the Burundian government from 1995. Rwandan troops would repeatedly cross the border, and attack Hutu refugee camps which harbored rebel forces in coordination with the Burundian military and local Tutsi militias. This development, according to Reyntjens, gave rise to the “conviction that transnational Hutu and Tutsi alliances fight each other.”


Buyoya's presidency

The power-sharing political system of Hutu presidency and Tutsi military operated until 1996, when Tutsi
Pierre Buyoya Pierre Buyoya (24 November 1949 – 17 December 2020) was a Burundian army officer and politician who served two terms as President of Burundi in 1987 to 1993 and 1996 to 2003. He was the second-longest serving president in Burundian history. An ...
replaced the Hutu president in a coup, ostensibly to restore order. As the government had already been under ''de facto'' military control by this point, the coup mostly cemented the status quo. Upon assuming power, Buyoya took action to solve the war peacefully. He brought the radical Tutsi mostly under control, forcing their militias to integrate into the military or to be disbanded. Buyoya also attempted to open negotiations with the insurgents. Despite this, the coup also strengthened the Hutu rebel groups, as Buyoya's regime was regarded as illegitimate, and neighboring countries imposed an embargo on Burundi to protest against the coup. The civil war consequently escalated in intensity. Hutu rebels grew in power and killed about 300 Tutsi in a major attack on 20 July 1996. The increasing activity of the Hutu rebels in Burundi worried the Rwandan government, and influenced its decision to launch the
First Congo War The First Congo War, group=lower-alpha (1996–1997), also nicknamed Africa's First World War, was a civil war and international military conflict which took place mostly in Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo), with major spillo ...
in late 1996 to overthrow President Mobutu of Zaire. By doing so, Rwanda hoped to eliminate Zaire as haven for various Hutu rebel groups; the CNDD-FDD had for example set up major bases at
Uvira Uvira is a city in the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uvira is a Roman Catholic diocese, a suffragan of the archdiocese of Bukavu. Geography It is located at the extreme north end of Lake Tanganyika. Kalundu is a lake ...
and
Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu pr ...
in eastern Zaire from where it launched raids into Burundi. Although Rwanda successfully overthrew Mobutu in a matter of months and replaced him with
Laurent-Désiré Kabila Laurent-Désiré Kabila () (27 November 1939 – 18 January 2001) or simply Laurent Kabila ( US: ), was a Congolese revolutionary and politician who was the third President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 until his assassinati ...
, CNDD-FDD rebels still managed to significantly expand their operations in 1997. Infiltrating
Bururi Province Bururi Province is one of the eighteen provinces of Burundi. It was formerly Burundi's largest province until the communes of Burambi, Buyengero and Rumonge were transferred to the province of Rumonge when it was created in 2015. Overview Burur ...
and
Makamba Province Makamba Province is the southernmost province of Burundi. The province has a population of 430,899 (2008 census) and covers an area of 1,960 km. The provincial capital is Makamba. Makamba has six communes, many refugees have returned fro ...
in Burundi's south, they even attacked Rutovu, Buyoya's home town and center of Burundi's Tutsi elite at the time. In fact, at least elements of the new Congolese government under Laurent-Désiré's son
Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Presi ...
came to support the Burundian insurgents by the early 2000s just as Mobutu had done it previously. In response to the deteriorating security situation, the government opted to organize a new paramilitary initiative. The military forced civilians to organize unarmed patrols to guard their communities against rebels. Though the state authorities claimed that these self-defense groups consisted of volunteers, civilians were generally coerced with threats of violence or fines. Most of the civilian militiamen were also poor Hutu, while Tutsi and wealthy or well conntected Hutu were generally exempted of the patrol duties. As result of demands by Tutsi extremist politicians, the military also set up a special, armed training program for Tutsi militiamen; Hutu were not allowed to join this training. As these initiatives failed to halt the growth of the rebel movements, the Burundian military eventually decided to set up a new militia in
Cibitoke Province Cibitoke Province is one of the 18 provinces of Republic of Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked cou ...
, which was initially simply known as "the young men" (''les jeunes'' or ''abajeunes''). In contrast to previous self-defense groups which were either unarmed or dominated by Tutsi, the ''abajeunes'' were both armed as well as mostly Hutu. They consisted of ex-rebels and former civilian patrolmen who had proven themselves to be trustworthy. Trained, armed and supplied by the military, the ''abajeunes'' were a success. The program was thus expanded to the entire country; the ''abajeunes'' in southern Burundi soon became known as the "
Guardians of the Peace The Guardians of the Peace (french: Gardiens de la Paix) were a pro-government paramilitary militia active in Burundi during the Burundian Civil War (1993–2006). It is believed to have existed between 1997 and 2005. According to the government, ...
". Numbering 3,000 fighters by late 1997, they were decisive in keeping the insurgents at bay. Nevertheless, the number of war casualties further increased in 1998. In 1998, Buyoya and the opposition-led Hutu parliament reached an agreement to sign a transitional constitution, and Buyoya was sworn in as president. Formal peace talks with the rebels began at Arusha on 15 June 1998. The talks proved to be extremely difficult. Tanzanian ex-President Julius Nyerere acted as chief negotiator, and attempted to use caution and patience to achieve a solution. Upon Nyerere's natural death in 1999,
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
assumed responsibility for the peace talks. He and other heads of states in the region increased the pressure on Burundi's political leadership, pressuring them to accept a government with participation of the rebel groups. Meanwhile, the civil war continued unabated, despite the efforts of the international community to facilitate the peace process. Though 1999 saw a reduction of fighting, the war again grew in intensity during the following two years. The Burundian military conducted a major offensive between October and December 2000, attempting to clear the Tenga forest near
Bujumbura Bujumbura (; ), formerly Usumbura, is the economic capital, largest city and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country's chief export, coffee, as well as cotton and tin ore. Bujumbura was formerly the country's normal capital. In late ...
of insurgents. Though killing many rebel fighters, the operation was a failure, and the Tenga forest remained an insurgent stronghold. After bitter negotiations, an agreement was finally reached which established a transitional government, where the presidency and vice-presidency would be rotated every 18 months, sharing power between the Hutus and Tutsis. While the Burundian government and three Tutsi groups signed the Arusha Accords ceasefire accord in August 2000, two leading Hutu rebel groups refused to participate, and the fighting continued. The Arusha talks closed on November 30, 2000. Twenty Tutsis and one British woman were killed on 28 December 2000, in the
Titanic Express massacre The Titanic Express massacre was an event which took place on 28 December 2000, in which 21 people were killed in an attack on a ''Titanic Express'' bus, close to Bujumbura (the then-capital of Burundi). The passengers, who had traveled from ...
. As the Arusha Accords were gradually implemented, severe challenges remained. Several times, the peace process almost broke down. Even though some moderate Tutsi parties had signed the peace deal, they remained opposed to some of its provisitions. Many Tutsi extremists refused to accept the Arusha Accords at all and refused any deal with the Hutu rebels. On 18 April 2001, an attempted coup against Buyoya failed. The putschists had wanted to prevent the power-sharing deal from coming into effect. A group of extremist Tutsis also attempted to revive the "Puissance Auto-défense-Amasekanya" (PA-Amasekanya) ethnic militia in mid-2000 to resist the peace agreement, but the leaders of this faction were promptly jailed. On 23 July 2001, it was agreed that the transitional government would be led by Buyoya for 18 months, followed by
Domitien Ndayizeye Domitien Ndayizeye (born 2 May 1953) is a Burundian politician who was President of Burundi from 2003 to 2005. He succeeded Pierre Buyoya, as president on 30 April 2003, after serving as Buyoya's vice president for 18 months. Ndayizeye remained in ...
, a Hutu and FRODEBU leader. Furthermore, a reform of the Burundian military would be implemented as soon as possible; the latter was especially contentious among the Tutsi. The transitional government was implemented in October 2001. Buyoya was sworn in as internationally recognized president in November, while the first
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n peacekeepers arrived in Burundi. Despite this, the main Hutu rebel groups, CNDD-FDD and FNL, still refused to sign a ceasefire agreement. Instead, fighting intensified, as the FNL launched numerous attacks around Bujumbura. Some 300 boys were kidnapped from Museuma College on November 9, 2001. The army responded by launching an offensive against the rebel bases in Tenga forest in December, claiming to have killed 500 insurgents. The September 9, 2002 Itaba massacre left hundreds of unarmed civilians dead. After being promised to be included in the new government, two wings of CNDD-FDD finally agreed to a ceasefire and joined the Arusha agreement on 3 December 2002. The PALIPEHUTU-FNL refused to enter negotiations with the government and continued its struggle.


Presidency of Ndayizeye

On April 9, 2003, the force headquarters of the African Union Mission in Burundi was established in Bujumbura under South African Maj. Gen. Sipho Binda.Helmoed-Romer Heitman, 'Burundi mission at full strength,' Jane's Defence Weekly, 29 October 2003, 16 As previously agreed, Buyoya stepped down, and Ndayizeye became President on 30 April 2003. In the following months, the CNDD-FDD faction of
Pierre Nkurunziza Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 19648 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020. A member of the Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza taught ph ...
was gradually integrated into the transitional government. A power-sharing deal was signed on 8 October 2003, and Nkurunziza was appointed Minister of State in charge of good governance and the general inspection of the state. On 18 October 2003, it was announced that the African Union Mission had reached full strength: 1,483 South Africans, 820 Ethiopians, and 232 personnel from
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
. As the Arusha Accords were implemented, the peace process made substantial progress. The reform of the military proved remarkably successful, and the integration of CNDD-FDD fighters went well. In contrast to earlier attempts to ensure peace which had been sabotaged by army extremists, most of the military had become wary of the constant civil war by the early 2000s. Its Tutsi and Hutu troops proved to be willing to stay loyal to the new government. The United Nations Operation in Burundi also helped to stabilize the country. In spite of these successes, the war had not yet ended. The FNL remained the only active rebel group, but it was still a capable fighting force and continued its attacks. In July 2003, a rebel raid on Bujumbura left 300 dead and 15,000 displaced. On December 29, 2003, Archbishop
Michael Courtney Michael Courtney (5 February 1945 – 29 December 2003) was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1980 and was given the rank of archbishop and named Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi in 2000. ...
, the
papal nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...
for the country, was murdered. Confronted by the newly unified Burundian military and the international peacekeepers, as well as a war-wary population, the abilities of the FNL to wage an insurgency gradually whittled down. By late 2004, it had just about 1,000 fighters left, and its area of operations had been reduced to just Bujumbura Rural Province. In August 2004, the FNL claimed responsibility for killing 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees in a United Nations camp at
Gatumba The village of Gatumba lies on the western side of Burundi, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The place is known for a massacre that took place at a refugee camp connected to the village. Massacre On August 13, 2004, a r ...
near the Congo border in Burundi. The attack was strongly condemned by the
U.N. Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...
, which issued a statement of outrage at the fact that "most of the victims were women, children and babies who were shot dead and burned in their shelters. The FNL attempted to deflect criticism by claiming that the victims had been
Banyamulenge Banyamulenge, also referred to as nyamurenge and banyamurenge (literally 'those who live in Mulenge') is the name that they adopted in the 80’s describes a Tutsi community in the southern part of Kivu who migrated from Rwanda and seek refuge in ...
militants, but the Gatumba massacre proved to be a propaganda disaster. The group was consequently labelled as "terrorist" both internationally and in Burundi, weakening it politically. Confronted with its declining fortunes, the FNL signalled that it was willing to negotiate an end of its insurgency.


Final peace process

In 2005, many developments were made in the peace process. The president signed a law in January 2005 to initiate a new national army, consisting of Tutsi military forces and all but one of the Hutu rebel groups. The Constitution was approved by voters in a referendum—marking the first time Burundians had voted since 1994. They voted again in July during the
parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, postponed from November 2004, in which "the Government of Burundi and the
Independent National Electoral Commission The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was established in 1998 and is the electoral body which oversees elections in Nigeria. History Regulation and administration of elections The administration of democratic elections in Nige ...
conducted a sound election, carried out in an atmosphere of peace and security." The Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) ended up winning the parliamentary elections. Several months later,
Pierre Nkurunziza Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 19648 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020. A member of the Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza taught ph ...
from the Hutu FDD group was elected as president by the two Hutu-dominated houses of parliament. After 12 years of living with a midnight-to-dawn curfew, Burundians were free to stay out late when the curfew was lifted on April 15, 2006, for the first time since 1993. This signified the most stable point in Burundian civil affairs since the assassination of Hutu President
Melchior Ndadaye Melchior Ndadaye (28 March 1953 – 21 October 1993) was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 Burundi presidential election, 1993 elect ...
and the beginning of the civil war. Matters continued to look promising after Burundi's last rebel group, the FNL, signed a ceasefire deal in
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, "solidifying the end of a 12-year civil war." As part of the agreement, members of the FNL were to be assembled, demobilized, and integrated into the national army. Dissident parts of the FNL, most notably the
National Liberation Forces – Icanzo The National Liberation Forces-Icanzo (FNL-Icanzo) is a small political party in Burundi. In 2005, the National Liberation Forces rejected the peace deals of the United Nations that led to democratic elections in Burundi notwithstanding its la ...
(FNL–Icanzo), continued their insurgency, however, and only surrendered later on. In mid-April 2008, FNL rebels shelled the then-capital, Bujumbura, while fighting killed at least 33.


Use of child soldiers

Children were recruited and used extensively by both sides during the civil war of 1993–2005. The Burundian military regularly conscripted children between the ages of 7 and 16 for its militias, most importantly the Guardians of the Peace. It would threaten the parents with violence or fines to hand over their sons to the army, and the child soldiers themselves were often beaten during training. Thousands of child soldiers fought for the government in the civil war, though the exact number is not known. Hundreds were killed in combat. The Hutu rebels were also known to deploy large numbers of child soldiers; hundreds of child soldiers were in the FNL by 2004.Child soldiers global report 2004: Africa Regional overviewChild Soldiers International
.
As the Guardians of the Peace recruited ex-rebels into their ranks, some rebel child soldiers also fought for the government after their surrender or capture. The recruitment of child soldiers by the military had been reduced by 2000. After the peace agreements brought the conflict to an end in 2005, the new constitution committed to not using children in direct combat. The parties to the conflict no longer recruited children in large numbers, but many remained active in the FNL, which had denounced the peace accord. By 2006, a reintegration program organized by
UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
had led to the release of 3,000 children from the military and armed groups. According to Child Soldiers International:
The majority of those hildrenwho took part in the program returned to farm and fish in their local communities, but nearly 600 returned to school. Some 1,800 former child soldiers received occupational training. Health care was provided for those with special needs and
psychosocial support The psychosocial approach looks at individuals in the context of the combined influence that psychological factors and the surrounding social environment have on their physical and mental wellness and their ability to function. This approach is ...
was provided through individual and group meetings.


Truth and Reconciliation Commission

In 2014 the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...
(TRC) was established to investigate crimes committed during ethnic violence since independence in 1962, overseen by Pierre Claver Ndayicariye.


Notes


References


Works cited

* * * * * *


Further reading

*Stephanie Schwartz. 2019.
Home, Again: Refugee Return and Post-Conflict Violence in Burundi.
''International Security''.


External links



globalsecurity.org
Chronology for Hutus in BurundiA Heroine of the Burundian Civil War
at
BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
{{Authority control Wars involving the states and peoples of Africa 1990s in Burundi 2000s in Burundi