Burundi

A

European Colonization

In 1858 the British explorers Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were the first Europeans to visit Burundi. Austrian explorer Oskar Baumann and German Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen arrived in the 1890s, and soon Roman Catholic clergy established missions in the area. Later Burundi (then called Urundi) and Rwanda (then called Ruanda) were incorporated into German East Africa. The indigenous Tutsi rulers maintained good relations with the Germans and later with the Belgians, who occupied the country during World War I (1914-1918). After the war, the area was mandated to Belgium by the League of Nations and became known as the Territory of Ruanda-Urundi. Following World War II (1939-1945), it became a United Nations (UN) trust territory. The Belgians continued previous policies of supporting mission education and ruling through Tutsi chiefs. The colonial authorities strengthened precolonial inequalities and were late in seeking reforms. Nevertheless, the Belgians encouraged the mwami to phase out the ubugabire system in 1955.

B

Independence and Violence

As African political consciousness increased, the Hutu grew more vocal in protesting inequalities. In 1959 ethnic antagonisms in Rwanda erupted into violence. The Rwandan Tutsi king fled the country, and an exodus of some 200,000 Tutsi followed, many of whom went to Burundi. At the insistence of the UN Trusteeship Council, Burundi became an independent constitutional monarchy under Mwami Mwambutsa IV on July 1, 1962, and was admitted to the UN in September. However, political rivalry between Hutu and Tutsi threatened regional stability. Fearing a Hutu revolution similar to Rwanda’s, the Burundian Tutsi reacted brutally.

In 1963 thousands of Hutu victimized in Burundi took refuge in Rwanda. The Burundian power structure remained in Tutsi hands, despite a Hutu majority in the legislature after 1965. Accusing Mwambutsa of intriguing to strengthen his position, a group of Hutu police attempted a coup in October 1965. Loyalist police led by Captain Michel Micombero, a Tutsi, thwarted the rebels, but the mwami fled the country. In July 1966 he was declared deposed by his son, Mwami Ntare V. Four months later Micombero led a successful coup, declared Burundi a republic, appointed himself president, and established a National Revolutionary Committee to help stabilize his regime and develop the economy. In April 1972 a Hutu uprising led to widespread massacres claiming at least 100,000 lives, mainly Hutu. Ntare, who was under house arrest, was also killed. The uprising was quelled, but unrest continued, and thousands of Hutu refugees found haven in nearby countries.

Micombero was ousted in a bloodless coup in November 1976. The ruling Supreme Revolutionary Council subsequently named Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza as president, but peace between the ruling Tutsi and the Hutu majority remained precarious. A new constitution in 1981 declared Burundi a one-party state. Coming into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, Bagaza became more authoritarian, persecuting clergy and forbidding masses. This policy led to an erosion of support, and in 1987, while on a foreign visit, he was overthrown by Major Pierre Buyoya, who ruled as head of the Military Committee for National Salvation. Suspending the constitution, freeing political prisoners, lifting restrictions on churches, and touring the country in an effort to unite the people, he quickly consolidated his power and dealt with political tensions.

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Stability was threatened again in 1988 when the Tutsi-led army engaged in massacres of Hutu that left at least 5,000 dead. Buyoya responded by appointing a Hutu prime minister and including Hutu in the cabinet. He controlled the military and planned a return to democratic, civilian rule. A new constitution providing for a multiparty system was ratified by referendum in March 1992. An unsuccessful coup attempt the same month reportedly was organized by Bagaza, in exile in Libya.

C

Further Instability

In June 1993 Burundi held its first democratic presidential elections since independence. Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu and a member of the Burundi Democracy Front, won the elections with 60 percent of the vote. Buyoya stepped down peacefully, retired from the army, and remained politically active. In October 1993 army factions loyal to Bagaza assassinated Ndadaye, sparking a civil war that was to last for nearly 12 years. Instability in neighboring Rwanda also spread to Burundi. Ndadaye’s death provoked waves of ethnic violence that sent thousands of refugees fleeing into neighboring Rwanda. Cyprien Ntaryamira, a Hutu who replaced Ndadaye, attempted to restore order by reining in the Tutsi-dominated security forces implicated in the violence. In April 1994, shortly after concluding talks, Ntaryamira and Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana were killed in a suspicious plane crash near Kigali, Rwanda. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, former head of the National Assembly, was named acting president and was formally elected in September 1994. However, Burundi was locked in a stalemate between the elected, Hutu-dominated government and the Tutsi-led army. The situation continued to deteriorate, exacerbated by the influx of thousands of refugees from Rwanda. Many government functions ceased.

In July 1996 Pierre Buyoya seized power in another military coup and suspended the constitution, claiming that extraordinary measures were necessary to ensure national survival. In September 1996 Roman Catholic archbishop Joachim Ruhuna, a Tutsi, was killed in an ambush by Hutu rebels. In response to public outcry over the murder, Buyoya permitted some political party and parliamentary activity. In 1998 Buyoya and the National Assembly agreed upon a transitional administration in which Buyoya was formally sworn in as president.

In 2000 a formal peace agreement aimed at ending the civil war between Hutu and Tutsi was reached in Arusha, Tanzania. The peace agreement called for a transitional government leading to a new constitution and elections. A referendum on the new constitution was planned for 2004.

Hutu and Tutsi parties shared power in this transitional system. Under this scheme, Buyoya (a Tutsi) handed the presidency over to Domitien Ndayizeye (a Hutu) in April 2003. At the same time, membership in the legislature and the military was carefully balanced between Hutu and Tutsi. In November 2003 the largest rebel group, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), made up mainly of Hutus, joined the peace process.

The delayed referendum on a new constitution was finally held in February 2005 and was overwhelmingly approved. In legislative elections that followed, the FDD won a majority in both the National Assembly and the Senate, and in August, FDD leader Pierre Nkurunziza was sworn in as the first president under the new constitution. In accordance with the new constitution, Nkurunziza appointed a 20-member cabinet that included 60 percent Hutus, 40 percent Tutsi, and 30 percent women. Rival political parties criticized the appointments for not being inclusive enough.

The election and swearing-in of Nkurunziza represented the crowning achievement of the peace process. Since 1993 ethnic violence had claimed more than 300,000 lives in Burundi and led to the displacement of some 700,000 people. The new government, however, faced the difficult task of persuading the last active rebel group, the Hutu-dominated National Liberation Forces (FNL), to join the peace process. The FNL is a rival of the FDD.