Burundi has not yet dealt with its violent past, and successive leaders have failed to stop state repression. A political dialogue is urgently needed
The ruling party has chosen its presidential candidate for the country’s upcoming election. The current leader has promised to step aside after three terms, raising many questions about his motives.
President Félix Tshisekedi should abandon plans to invite neighbouring militaries into the eastern DRC
The new choice was once the capital of the Burundian monarchy and the opposition accuse President Nkurunziza of attempting a symbolic restoration
In September, Burundi threatened to quit the rights council altogether after another report pointed to crimes against humanity in the country
Grenades cost as little as $3 each in this tiny country, and they have become the preferred method of settling political scores.
Burundians took up exercise during the civil war to keep their spirits up — now they’re hooked. Haydee Bangerezako reports.
The exiled leader of Burundi’s last rebel group returned to the capital, Bujumbura, on Friday to begin implementing a stalled deal seen as the final obstacle to peace in the tiny Central African country. Agathon Rwasa, leader of the Forces for National Liberation, arrived at Bujumbura airport for talks between his ethnic Hutu group and Burundi’s mixed but Hutu-led government.
Burundi’s government and the last active rebel group on Monday signed an unconditional ceasefire agreement, raising hopes of a definitive end to the small Central African nation’s 15-year civil war. The deal between the government and the National Liberation Forces (FNL) was reached after a six-week round of fresh fighting.
Burundi’s last resisting rebel group has said it will stop sporadic fighting with the government to give a stalled peace deal a chance. Burundi’s government and the Forces for National Liberation (FNL) rebels signed a pact almost two years ago to end a persistent insurgency. But the FNL pulled out from a truce monitoring team over objections to parts of the agreement.
Exiled leaders of Burundi’s last active rebel group will return home this week to implement a long awaited peace deal to end a civil conflict that has killed 300 000 people. The persistent insurgency by the Forces for National Liberation is seen by many as the final barrier to lasting stability in the tiny Central African country.
The Burundian army said that about 50 rebels from the National Liberation Forces were killed in heavy fighting on Wednesday that also left two government soldiers dead. The clashes were among the worst since hostilities resumed three weeks ago, dashing hopes of a breakthrough in peace efforts.
A special unit of Burundi’s police arbitrarily detained and tortured civilians last year, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) group said in a report released on Wednesday. In a 42-page report entitled Every Morning They Beat Me: Police Abuses in Burundi, HRW documented 21 cases of beatings and torture carried out in October 2007.
Burundian rebels fired a dozen shells at the capital, Bujumbura, overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, hitting the residence of the Vatican’s ambassador, an army spokesperson said. The attack by the National Liberation Forces came the day after the Burundian military bombed rebel strongholds north of the capital.
Burundi’s army battled rebels for a third day running on Saturday, in clashes that have killed 20 fighters and six soldiers, a military spokesperson said. In some of the worst fighting in months, military helicopters were deployed to the outskirts of the capital, Bujumbura, on Friday against the rebel Forces for National Liberation.
Burundi’s last remaining rebel group accused the army of killing five of their commanders and kidnapping five more fighters in clashes that threaten to undermine a shaky peace process. A military spokesperson denied the allegations. A a spokesperson for the Hutu Forces for National Liberation said the fighting took place on Friday in the rebel stronghold of Musigati.
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/ 17 December 2007
Burundi’s state employees went back to work on Monday, ending an unprecedented two-week general strike and months of protests by the small Central African nation’s public sector. The country’s first general strike started on December 3, with civil servants complaining that the government was failing to honour pay hike pledges.
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/ 12 December 2007
Like children who cannot wait to open presents on Christmas Day, South African soldiers cheered loudly when a large cargo plane carrying goodwill parcels from home arrived in Burundi on Tuesday. When the cargo plane flew over the Modderfontein base in Africa’s Great Lakes region, they spontaneously started singing.
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/ 15 November 2007
Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza has named a new unity Cabinet, drawing members from two leading opposition groups in a bid to end months of political deadlock in the troubled African nation. The new Cabinet comprises 19 ministers and seven deputy ministers, presidential spokesperson Leonidas Hatungimana said.
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/ 8 November 2007
The Burundian first vice-president has resigned, the latest sign of escalating political tensions in the tiny Central African nation struggling to recover from a brutal civil war. The resignation comes at a delicate time for the government, which is struggling to move forward stalled peace talks with the country’s last rebel group.
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/ 16 October 2007
Burundi’s last active rebel group on Tuesday said it was shunning a weekend meeting to put the Central African nation’s derailed peace process back on track as the South African mediator was biased. "The FNL [National Liberation Forces] will not respond to the invitation of South African Minister Charles Nqakula" said Pasteur Habimana, spokesperson for the FNL rebel group.
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/ 9 September 2007
Burundi rebels refused on Sunday to rejoin a truce monitoring team they quit in July unless the South African chief mediator of talks with the government is replaced. The Forces for National Liberation — the last active rebel group in the tiny Central African country — accused Charles Nqakula of bias.
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/ 4 September 2007
At least 20 Burundi fighters were killed on Tuesday in heavy clashes between two rival rebel factions that sent scores of residents fleeing the capital’s northern suburbs. Machine gunfire and explosions shattered the air as insurgents opposed to Agathon Rwasa, the leader of the rebel Forces for National Liberation, battled fighters loyal to him.
Burundi’s acute political deadlock and the collapse of peace talks have raised fears that the nation might fall back into the deadly conflict that devastated the country for more than a decade. "I’m scared because I have this feeling that the country is going backwards instead of forwards," said Cyrille Barekebuvuge, a shopowner in the centre of the capital.
Grenade attacks on the homes of five prominent Burundian opposition politicians wounded two bystanders but did not injure their intended target, a police official said. A police spokesperson said attackers dressed in civilian clothes carried out a ”meticulously prepared” attack on Monday.
Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza awarded government workers a 34% pay rise as the small Central African nation celebrated Labour Day on Tuesday. The increment was in line with economic growth the country recorded in the past year, Nkurunziza said in a televised speech late on Monday.
Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have adopted a joint military strategy to fight rebel groups operating in the war-scarred Great Lakes region, officials said on Thursday. Military commanders from the four countries said those operations would be planned and carried out in conjunction with the country where the rebels are based.
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/ 28 February 2007
The African Union on Wednesday officially created a peacekeeping force of more than 1Â 500 South African troops for Burundi to help integrate the country’s last active rebel movement. The pan-African body has taken over from the United Nations in order to facilitate the integration of the Forces of National Liberation (FNL) into a broader peace process.
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/ 8 February 2007
About 300 000 Burundians affected by floods since November last year are due to receive seeds from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to tide them over until the next harvest season, a WFP official has said. The agency will provide the aid between February 15 and March 15.
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/ 23 January 2007
The powerful chairperson of Burundi’s ruling party said on Tuesday he had spent the night in the South African embassy, fearing for his safety after his police bodyguards were changed unexpectedly as he faces growing discontent. Hussein Radjabu’s ruling Hutu CNDD-FDD party faces mounting criticism in the tiny Central African nation.
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/ 15 January 2007
Thousands of people have been displaced by flooding in Burundi after heavy rains washed out homes near the capital over the weekend, local officials said on Monday. Officials estimated that at least 7 500 people had been left homeless in suburbs south and west of Bujumbura.”
The delayed implementation of a landmark truce between the Burundi government and the country’s last active rebel group is to kick off next week, officials said Sunday. The ceasefire deal principally calls on the insurgents to assemble in camps from where they will either be integrated into the army or police force or be demobilised.