Burundi Civil War
Encyclopedia
The Burundi Civil War was an armed conflict
lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war
was the result of long standing ethnic divisions between the Hutu
and the Tutsi
tribes in Burundi
. The conflict began following the first multiparty elections in the country since gaining independence from Belgium
in 1962 and is seen as formally ending with the swearing in of Pierre Nkurunziza
in August 2005. The estimated death toll stands at 300,000 killed.
as distinct ethnic groups is unclear, but became the basis of a society organized under colonial racial schemes. In the case of the Belgians, and the Germans
before them, casual observations revealed varying height differences among the resident peoples: the Twa who were short, the Hutu who were of medium height and the Tutsi who were tallest among them. It was also documented that in many cases, those who were among the tall group also raised cattle and tended to be politically and economically dominant. Those in the middle height group, on the other hand, tended to be poor and more agrarian. This prompted the use of what became known as the “ten-cow” rule. Those individuals who owned more than ten cows were described as “well-born,” equated with Caucasians, and given privileges by the colonists.
The ten-cow rule was not universally applied, however, and the existence of “petits Tutsi” continues to cause much debate in the field. This much is clear, the Belgian census of 1933-34 and subsequent division of “races” exacerbated latent regional and ethnic conflicts.
Burundi’s first multi-party national elections were held on June 27, 1993, thirty-one years after the country gained its independence from Belgium in 1962. These elections were immediately preceded by 25 years of Tutsi military regimes beginning with Michel Micombero
, who had launched a successful coup in 1966 and replaced the monarchy with a presidential republic.
The last of the coups was in 1987 and installed Tutsi officer Pierre Buyoya
.. 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 amongst 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 Buyoya sent in the army to quell the uprising, they in turn killed thousands of Hutu....
, was assassinated by Tutsi extremists. As a result of the murder, violence broke out between the two groups, and an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people died within a year. A 1996 UN report into Ndadaye's assassination and its aftermath, concluded that "acts of genocide against the Tutsi minority were committed in Burundi in October 1993". The report also implicated senior figures in Burundi's Tutsi-dominated army in the assassination. In Burundi, Tutsi civilians have been targets of mass killings and acts of genocide organized by the state and by armed militia groups (see Burundi genocide (1993)). They were followed by a long civil war that killed both Hutu and Tutsi.
This violence prompted Buyoya to speed up liberalization and national dialogue, allowing other political parties to compete in the 1993 election. Melchior Ndadaye
was democratically elected and became first Hutu president in the country’s history. He was assassinated three months later, in October 1993, by Tutsi army extremists. The country’s situation rapidly declined as Hutu peasants began to rise up and massacre Tutsi. In acts of brutal retribution, the Tutsi army proceeded to round up thousands of Hutu and kill them. The Rwandan Genocide
in 1994, sparked by the killing
of Ndadaye’s successor Cyprien Ntaryamira
, further aggravated the conflict in Burundi by sparking additional massacres of Tutsis.
was assassinated in the same plane crash
with Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana
. This act marked the beginning of the Rwandan Genocide
, while in Burundi, the death of Ntaryamira exacerbated the violence and unrest, although there was no general massacre. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya was installed to a 4-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 regime.
After the assassination of Ntaryamira the Hutu presidency and Tutsi military operated under a power-sharing political system until 1996, when Tutsi Pierre Buyoya
replaced the Hutu president in a coup
. Hutu rebels killed about 300 Tutsis on July 20, 1996, and army soldiers killed at least 126 Hutu refugees on January 5, 1997. In 1998, Buyoya and the opposition-led Hutu parliament reached an agreement to sign a transitional constitution, and Buyoya was sworn in as president. The Arusha peace talks began on June 15, 1998.
The civil war, however, continued, despite the efforts of the international community to create a peace process. Ceasefire talks were held in Tanzania
in 2000, facilitated by Nelson Mandela
. The agreement which established a transitional government, where the presidency and vice-presidency would be rotated every 18 months, sharing power between the Hutus and Tutsis was reached. While the government and three Tutsi groups signed the ceasefire accord, two leading Hutu rebel groups refused to participate, and the fighting continued. The Arusha talks closed with little progress made on November 30, 2000. 20 Tutsis and one British woman were killed on December 28, 2000 in the Titanic Express massacre
.
On April 18, 2001 coup attempt failed. The transitional government was implemented in October 2001. 300 boys were kidnapped from Museuma College on November 9, 2001. Main Hutu rebel groups had still refused to sign a ceasefire agreement at this time, and 500 rebels were killed in their own attack against the Tutsi army on December 25, 2001. This resulted in increased fighting for several months. The September 9, 2002 Itaba massacre
left hundreds of unarmed civilians dead.
, a Hutu, took over as president of the transitional government, and Buyoya stepped down. Along with the main Hutu rebel group, National Council for the Defense of Democracy–Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), President Ndayizeye signed a ceasefire agreement at a summit of African leaders in Tanzania
in November 2003. Under the agreement, the FDD
became a political party, and it was decided that rebel Hutu fights were to be integrated into the predominately-Tutsi armed forces. On December 29, 2003, Archbishop Michael Courtney
, the papal nuncio for the country, was murdered.
Disaster occurred in 2004 when the Hutu rebel group, Forces of National Liberation
(FNL), claimed responsibility for killing 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees in a United Nations camp at Gatumba
near the Congo border in Burundi. The attack was strongly condemned by the U.N. Security Council, 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 Council called on the top U.N. envoy in Burundi to investigate the incident with a U.N. representative from Congo, a step that increased U.N. intervention in the Burundi civil war. A few months later in December, U.N. and government forces began to disarm thousands of Burundi soldiers and former rebels.
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 Hutu rebel groups. The Constitution was approved by voters in a referendum—marking the first time for Burundians to vote since 1994. They voted again in the July during the parliamentary elections
, postponed from November 2004, in which "the Government of Burundi and the Independent National Electoral Commission
conducted a technically-sound election, carried out in an atmosphere of peace and security." The FDD ended up being the winning party for the parliamentary elections. Several months later, Pierre Nkurunziza
, 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 Burundi civil affairs since the assassination of Hutu President Melchior Ndadaye
and the beginning of the civil war.
Matters continued to look prosperous after Burundi’s last rebel group, the Forces of National Liberation
(FNL) signed a ceasefire deal in Tanzania
, "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.
.
In mid-April 2008, FNL rebels shelled the capital, Bujumbura, while fighting killed at least 33.
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
was the result of long standing ethnic divisions between the Hutu
Hutu
The Hutu , or Abahutu, are a Central African people, living mainly in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo.-Population statistics:The Hutu are the largest of the three peoples in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians...
and the Tutsi
Tutsi
The Tutsi , or Abatutsi, are an ethnic group in Central Africa. Historically they were often referred to as the Watussi or Watusi. They are the second largest caste in Rwanda and Burundi, the other two being the Hutu and the Twa ....
tribes in Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
. The conflict began following the first multiparty elections in the country since gaining independence from Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in 1962 and is seen as formally ending with the swearing in of Pierre Nkurunziza
Pierre Nkurunziza
Pierre Nkurunziza is a Burundian politician who has been President of Burundi since 2005. He is the Chairman of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy , the ruling party in Burundi, and also the current Chairman of the East African...
in August 2005. The estimated death toll stands at 300,000 killed.
Background
The origins of Tutsi and HutuOrigins of Tutsi and Hutu
The origins of the Tutsi and Hutu peoples is a key issue in the history of Burundi and Rwanda, as well as the Great Lakes region of Africa. While the Hutu are generally recognized as the ethnic majority of Rwanda, in racialist ideology the Tutsi were identified as a foreign race, as opposed to an...
as distinct ethnic groups is unclear, but became the basis of a society organized under colonial racial schemes. In the case of the Belgians, and the Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
before them, casual observations revealed varying height differences among the resident peoples: the Twa who were short, the Hutu who were of medium height and the Tutsi who were tallest among them. It was also documented that in many cases, those who were among the tall group also raised cattle and tended to be politically and economically dominant. Those in the middle height group, on the other hand, tended to be poor and more agrarian. This prompted the use of what became known as the “ten-cow” rule. Those individuals who owned more than ten cows were described as “well-born,” equated with Caucasians, and given privileges by the colonists.
The ten-cow rule was not universally applied, however, and the existence of “petits Tutsi” continues to cause much debate in the field. This much is clear, the Belgian census of 1933-34 and subsequent division of “races” exacerbated latent regional and ethnic conflicts.
Burundi’s first multi-party national elections were held on June 27, 1993, thirty-one years after the country gained its independence from Belgium in 1962. These elections were immediately preceded by 25 years of Tutsi military regimes beginning with Michel Micombero
Michel Micombero
Michel Micombero was the first President of Burundi from November 28, 1966 to November 1, 1976. He was member of the Tutsi ethnicity....
, who had launched a successful coup in 1966 and replaced the monarchy with a presidential republic.
The last of the coups was in 1987 and installed Tutsi officer Pierre Buyoya
Pierre Buyoya
Major Pierre Buyoya is a Burundian politician who has ruled Burundi twice, from 1987 to 1993 and from 1996 to 2003...
.. 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 amongst 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 Buyoya sent in the army to quell the uprising, they in turn killed thousands of Hutu....
War
On October 21, 1993, Burundi's first democratically elected Hutu president, Melchior NdadayeMelchior Ndadaye
Melchior Ndadaye was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election...
, was assassinated by Tutsi extremists. As a result of the murder, violence broke out between the two groups, and an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people died within a year. A 1996 UN report into Ndadaye's assassination and its aftermath, concluded that "acts of genocide against the Tutsi minority were committed in Burundi in October 1993". The report also implicated senior figures in Burundi's Tutsi-dominated army in the assassination. In Burundi, Tutsi civilians have been targets of mass killings and acts of genocide organized by the state and by armed militia groups (see Burundi genocide (1993)). They were followed by a long civil war that killed both Hutu and Tutsi.
This violence prompted Buyoya to speed up liberalization and national dialogue, allowing other political parties to compete in the 1993 election. Melchior Ndadaye
Melchior Ndadaye
Melchior Ndadaye was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election...
was democratically elected and became first Hutu president in the country’s history. He was assassinated three months later, in October 1993, by Tutsi army extremists. The country’s situation rapidly declined as Hutu peasants began to rise up and massacre Tutsi. In acts of brutal retribution, the Tutsi army proceeded to round up thousands of Hutu and kill them. The Rwandan Genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
in 1994, sparked by the killing
Assassination of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira
The assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on the evening of April 6, 1994, was the catalyst for the Rwandan Genocide. The airplane carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda....
of Ndadaye’s successor Cyprien Ntaryamira
Cyprien Ntaryamira
Cyprien Ntaryamira , was President of Burundi from 5 February 1994 until his death when his plane was shot down on 6 April 1994.-Biography:...
, further aggravated the conflict in Burundi by sparking additional massacres of Tutsis.
Ntaryamira assassination
In 1994, Ndadaye’s successor Cyprien NtaryamiraCyprien Ntaryamira
Cyprien Ntaryamira , was President of Burundi from 5 February 1994 until his death when his plane was shot down on 6 April 1994.-Biography:...
was assassinated in the same plane crash
Assassination of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira
The assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on the evening of April 6, 1994, was the catalyst for the Rwandan Genocide. The airplane carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda....
with Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana
Juvénal Habyarimana
Juvénal Habyarimana was the third President of the Republic of Rwanda, the post he held longer than any other president to date, from 1973 until 1994. During his 20-year rule he favored his own ethnic group, the Hutus, and supported the Hutu majority in neighboring Burundi against the Tutsi...
. This act marked the beginning of the Rwandan Genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
, while in Burundi, the death of Ntaryamira exacerbated the violence and unrest, although there was no general massacre. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya was installed to a 4-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 regime.
After the assassination of Ntaryamira the Hutu presidency and Tutsi military operated under a power-sharing political system until 1996, when Tutsi Pierre Buyoya
Pierre Buyoya
Major Pierre Buyoya is a Burundian politician who has ruled Burundi twice, from 1987 to 1993 and from 1996 to 2003...
replaced the Hutu president in a coup
1996 Burundian coup d'état
The 1996 Burundian coup d'état was a military coup d'état that took place in Burundi on 25 July 1996. In the midst of the Burundi Civil War, former president Pierre Buyoya deposed Hutu President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya. According to Amnesty International, in the weeks following the coup, more...
. Hutu rebels killed about 300 Tutsis on July 20, 1996, and army soldiers killed at least 126 Hutu refugees on January 5, 1997. In 1998, Buyoya and the opposition-led Hutu parliament reached an agreement to sign a transitional constitution, and Buyoya was sworn in as president. The Arusha peace talks began on June 15, 1998.
The civil war, however, continued, despite the efforts of the international community to create a peace process. Ceasefire talks were held in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
in 2000, facilitated by Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
. The agreement which established a transitional government, where the presidency and vice-presidency would be rotated every 18 months, sharing power between the Hutus and Tutsis was reached. While the government and three Tutsi groups signed the ceasefire accord, two leading Hutu rebel groups refused to participate, and the fighting continued. The Arusha talks closed with little progress made on November 30, 2000. 20 Tutsis and one British woman were killed on December 28, 2000 in the Titanic Express massacre
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 bus, the “Titanic Express”, close to the Burundi capital Bujumbura....
.
On April 18, 2001 coup attempt failed. The transitional government was implemented in October 2001. 300 boys were kidnapped from Museuma College on November 9, 2001. Main Hutu rebel groups had still refused to sign a ceasefire agreement at this time, and 500 rebels were killed in their own attack against the Tutsi army on December 25, 2001. This resulted in increased fighting for several months. The September 9, 2002 Itaba massacre
Itaba massacre
The Itaba massacre was according to Amnesty International the "massacre of between 173 and 267 unarmed civilians, many of them women, children and the elderly, who were deliberately and unlawfully killed in Itaba commune, Gitega province on 9 September 2002"...
left hundreds of unarmed civilians dead.
Ndayizeye presidency
In July 2003, a rebel attack on Bujumbura left 300 dead and 15,000 displaced. Also in July, Domitien NdayizeyeDomitien Ndayizeye
Domitien Ndayizeye is a Burundian politician who was President of Burundi from 2003 to 2005. Of Hutu descent, he succeeded Pierre Buyoya—a Tutsi—as national president on April 30, 2003, after serving as Buyoya's vice-president for 18 months...
, a Hutu, took over as president of the transitional government, and Buyoya stepped down. Along with the main Hutu rebel group, National Council for the Defense of Democracy–Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), President Ndayizeye signed a ceasefire agreement at a summit of African leaders in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
in November 2003. Under the agreement, the FDD
National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy
The National Council for the Defense of Democracy–Forces for the Defense of Democracy was the most significant rebel group active in the Burundi Civil War and became a major political party in Burundi...
became a political party, and it was decided that rebel Hutu fights were to be integrated into the predominately-Tutsi armed forces. On December 29, 2003, Archbishop Michael Courtney
Michael Courtney
Michael Aidan Courtney was the Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi and Titular Archbishop of Eanach DúinCourtney was born in Summerhill in Nenagh, County Tipperary...
, the papal nuncio for the country, was murdered.
Disaster occurred in 2004 when the Hutu rebel group, Forces of National Liberation
Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People
The National Forces of Liberation , formerly Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People is a rebel group in Burundi which fought in the Burundi Civil War for the Hutu ethnic group...
(FNL), claimed responsibility for killing 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees in a United Nations camp at Gatumba
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:...
near the Congo border in Burundi. The attack was strongly condemned by the U.N. Security Council, 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 Council called on the top U.N. envoy in Burundi to investigate the incident with a U.N. representative from Congo, a step that increased U.N. intervention in the Burundi civil war. A few months later in December, U.N. and government forces began to disarm thousands of Burundi soldiers and former rebels.
Final peace process
Burundi elections, 2005
The Republic of Burundi held several elections in 2005. The polls returned the nation to constitutional democratic rule after a devastating civil war that arose from long-standing ethnic tensions between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority....
, postponed from November 2004, in which "the Government of Burundi and the Independent National Electoral Commission
Independent National Electoral Commission
The Independent National Electoral Commission , set up in 1998, is the electoral body which was set up to oversee elections in Nigeria.The INEC has encountered several controversies in the run-up to the April 2007 general elections, including criticism about its preparedness from Sada Abubakar,...
conducted a technically-sound election, carried out in an atmosphere of peace and security." The FDD ended up being the winning party for the parliamentary elections. Several months later, Pierre Nkurunziza
Pierre Nkurunziza
Pierre Nkurunziza is a Burundian politician who has been President of Burundi since 2005. He is the Chairman of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy , the ruling party in Burundi, and also the current Chairman of the East African...
, 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 Burundi civil affairs since the assassination of Hutu President Melchior Ndadaye
Melchior Ndadaye
Melchior Ndadaye was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election...
and the beginning of the civil war.
Matters continued to look prosperous after Burundi’s last rebel group, the Forces of National Liberation
Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People
The National Forces of Liberation , formerly Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People is a rebel group in Burundi which fought in the Burundi Civil War for the Hutu ethnic group...
(FNL) signed a ceasefire deal in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, "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.
.
In mid-April 2008, FNL rebels shelled the capital, Bujumbura, while fighting killed at least 33.
External links
- Burundi Civil War, globalsecurity.org
- Chronology for Hutus in Burundi