The last remaining holdout rebel group, the Hutu National Liberation Forces (FNL; Group Profile), on September 7, 2006 signed a ceasefire, which has been in place with other rebel groups for five years, in Tanzania with the Burundi government. Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula facilitated the signing and will continue to implement the ceasefire. The FNL has agreed to disarm its 3,000 fighters in exchange for immunity and will transition to a legitimate political party, much like the IRA has done. The fighters can chose to join the Burundian security forces, which will be overhauled, or outright decommission. Refugees, displaced persons, and FNL leadership will be repatriated. The UN, the African Union, and other donors will monitor the process through early October and establish safe cantonment areas for the decommissioning rebels.
The ceasefire is a positive step, but peace is likely to remain elusive in Burundi for some time, as each side has yet to agree to critical issues, to include ethnicity issues. The agreement, too, should bring an end to propaganda and “malicious statements from both sides” (source) that enflamed hostilities.
Government Stability Isn’t
The government is also plagued by an untimely crisis. Vice President Alice Nzomukunda resigned alleging “corruption and human rights abuses were hampering government business” (source).
Freedom of Press Isn’t
Aloys Kabura, a reporter for the government’s Burundi News Agency, was sentenced on September 18 to five months in the Ngozi prison for verbally criticizing the police for holding 20 journalists for hours and beating numerous journalists at an April press conference at the home of a politician who alleged corruption of the ruling FDD party. Whereas senior government officials contend that the press is increasingly “‘another political opposition’ for criticizing corruption and mismanagement” (source), watchdog Reporters sans Frontieres voiced “deep concern about the future of democracy in Burundi” and its “increasing authoritarianism” (source).
Business Interests Aren’t
According to a May 2006 USAID report, Burundi’s primary exports are coffee and tea. It has a fledgling industry for fruit, vegetables, plants, and minerals that could be developed. Mining development has stalled due to political instability, declining security climate, poor infrastructure, and physical distance to ports. The country was once a cotton exporter, but declining security, population displacement, and lack of attention to the agrarian industry left plantations in disrepair. Finally, Burundi could have a thriving tourism industry based on its “cultural heritage, its national parks, and its nature reserves,” but the security climate must be stabilized. Burundi is also strategically positioned as a transit point throughout sub-Saharan Africa and possibly into Europe (specifically Belgium , France , Switzerland , and the UK ), which had been a primary recipient of Burundian goods.
Outlook
While on the surface reaching a ceasefire is a commendable feat by President Pierre Nkurunziza, a lasting peace in a country wracked by civil war for 13 years is perhaps overly optimistic. The war, sparked by the assassination of the country’s first Hutu premier, resulted in over 300,000 people’s deaths due mostly to starvation and disease. Ethnic tensions, dating back to 1961 independence, have not, and are not expected to, abated. South Africa should also be commended for committing to post-conflict reconstruction and development efforts. For lasting peace to take hold, the international community must become active participants in nation-building and training programs to teach burgeoning nations how to survive peacefully.
