The genocidal ethnic cleansing in Rwanda in which Hutu militias systematically killed over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in April 1994 is well-known due in part to the award-winning films Hotel Rwanda (2004) and Sometimes in April (2005). Comparatively few, however, have learned that another 300,000 civilians?again, mostly Tutsis?were killed in neighboring Burundi over the next decade in the civil war that erupted just a few months earlier in 1993. The mortar shells raining down on Bujumbura last week are the means by which the Hutu National Liberation Forces (FNL) collectively quotes the famous lines of another film: “I’m not dead yet!” The FNL remains the sole militant group yet to participate in Burundi’s peace settlement and new government.
In both countries, the Tutsis are a minority, but since independence was granted a half-century ago, the group has held positions of political dominance. This recent decade of violence exploded when attempts were made to transition to a more balanced political framework and shift from Tutsi leadership to Hutu prominence. In the case of Burundi, the Hutus swept into power in the early 1990s, resulting in the Hutu Front for Democracy in Burundi (Frodebu) party dominating the parliament. Subsequently, the Tutsi-dominant army rejected the first nationally-elected Hutu head of state, Melchior Ndadaye (see photo above), and ultimately was behind his assassination in 1993. Remarkably, the government held together, and the Burundi Parliament elected Cyprien Ntaryamira , a Hutu, as his successor, but Ntaryamira died months later while traveling in the same plane that was shot down, killing the Rwandan president and sparking that genocide. Burundi struggled to retain its democratic system, and parliament appointed another Hutu president, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya , in October 1994, but the Union for National Progress (Uprona) party, dominated by Tutsis, withdrew from the government and parliament, ushering in a decade of civil war, which all but concluded in 2005 with a peace settlement and national democratic election.
Currently, the nation is led by former Hutu rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza (see photo by ONUB Martine Perret) of the Hutu-majority Force for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) party. Although a considerably newer government than Rwanda, Burundi may have established a more robust power-sharing structure since the comparatively small Tutsi population has secured a significantly large (though still minority) portion of government seats and equal footing within the security forces. The 2005 peace accords brokered significantly by South Africa ensure that the 14% Tutsi population has 40% of the government seats reserved and confirm that military posts are split evenly.
It is not entirely clear why FNL leader Agathon Rwasa chooses to stay outside the current framework. Certainly, two key fears are playing a role. First, by his insistence that he only negotiate with Tutsi army and civilian leaders, Rwasa may prefer to secure a pledge from Tutsi security forces to promise protection for his returning militia. Second, he may also be seeking special amnesty for some of the specific atrocities of his group, including the August 2004 massacre (Terrorist Incident forthcoming) of 150 Congolese (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Tutsi refugees in Gatumba that ultimately prompted many African nations to list the FNL as a terrorist group. However, he may have also come to realize that there is little room for FNL representation in the 60% Hutu share of the existing Burundi government, and thus he might be hoping to carve a percentage of representation out of the Tutsi 40% or otherwise elbow a significant portion of the Hutu representation. Despite the recent shelling of civilians, it seems that both government and FNL representatives have agreed that South Africa’s redefined peace-brokering role be conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in the coming weeks and months. As such, perhaps in 2006, Burundi’s civil war and FNL civilian violence might finally be dead after all.
