, colorcode = #00FF00 , logo = FROLINA logo.png , leader = Joseph Karumba , predecessor = ''Umbumwé'' , foundation = 1980s , dissolved = , ideology =

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 ...

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 ...

interests , position = , wing1_title = Paramilitary wing , wing1 = People's Armed Forces , headquarters =

Mpanda Mpanda is a city in Katavi Region of Tanzania, East Africa with a postcode number 50100. It is the administrative centre of Katavi Region, Mpanda District and is itself one of the four districts of the region. Mpanda is a "frontier town" in the ...

(1990s) , membership = , membership_year = , newspaper = , domestic = , flag = , international = , colours =

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

, website = , country = Burundi The National Liberation Front (french: Front de libération nationale, or FROLINA) is an ethnically

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

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 ...

that was formerly active as militant rebel group before and during the

Burundian Civil War The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party election ...

History

Originally known as ''Umbumwé'' ("Solidarity"), FROLINA was founded in the mid-1980s by Joseph Karumba, a former schoolteacher and ex-member of the

National Forces of Liberation The National Forces of Liberation (french: Forces nationales de libération, or FNL) is a political party and former rebel group in Burundi. An ethnic Hutu group, the party was previously known as the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People ( ...

(''Parti pour la libération du peuple Hutu'', PALIPEHUTU). Composed of militant Hutu refugees from

, the group launched its first insurgent attack on the Burundian military in Mabandal on 13 August 1990. Afterwards, Karumba was repeatedly arrested in his country of exile,

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 ...

, and the local authorities attempted to suppress his small militant group. From 1992, however, the Tanzanian government decided to tolerate FROLINA's activities, and granted Karumba asylum. From their bases in Tanzania, the FROLINA's militant wing, the People's Armed Forces (''Forces armées du peuple'', FAP) waged a low-level

guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...

against the Burundian government. Their operations were concentrated on the country's south, especially the area around

Nyanza Lac Nyanza Lac is a city in southern Burundi, in Makamba Province. The city is located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, to the south of Mutambara and close to the border with Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanz ...

. Overall, Karumba's group remained a "minor" force compared to other Hutu rebel movements such as the

National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy The National Council for the Defense of DemocracyForces for the Defense of Democracy (french: Conseil National Pour la Défense de la DémocratieForces pour la Défense de la Démocratie, CNDD–FDD) is the major political party in Burundi. Durin ...

(''Conseil National Pour la Défense de la Démocratie – Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie'', or CNDD–FDD) and PALIPEHUTU-FNL during the

. Like most other Hutu insurgent groups, FROLINA was "militantly racist" and desired the extermination or at least marginalization of all Burundian Tutsi. FROLINA mostly ceased its attacks in 1998. After talks took place between Burundian President

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 ...

and Karumba, the party signed the Arusha Accords in August 2000. It thereby agreed to a ceasefire and an eventual integration into the Burundian military as part of a power-sharing deal. Though part of FROLINA refused to agree to the Arusha Accords, and continued its insurgency, the rest of the party adhered to the ceasefire. Four FROLINA members became part of the Transitional National Assembly of late 2001, and the party demobilized its paramilitary forces in 2005. Its importance declined afterward, however, with FROLINA gaining less than 1% of the vote in the 2010 Burundian communal elections.

References

Works cited

* * * {{Authority control Burundian Civil War Factions of the First Congo War Factions of the Second Congo War Political parties in Burundi Rebel groups in Burundi Political parties established in the 1980s