SUMMARY
Since its 1962 independence Burundi has been embroiled in conflict and violence, with Hutu and Tutsi population groups struggling to gain or maintain power over government. Despite being a numerical minority, representing only 10-14% of Burundi’s total population, the Tutsi have long-since dominated the political scene. The system of ‘indirect rule’, first operated in Burundi by German and later by Belgian colonialists, fortified the system of Tutsi domination in the political sphere. The Hutus and the Twa ethnic group, making up 85-90% and less than 1%, respectively, of the country’s densely packed population, have throughout Burundi’s history largely been marginalised politically.
Together with Burundi gaining its independence, the 1961 assassination of PM Prince Louis Rwagasore led to the deterioration of relations between Hutu and Tutsi, and opened up for the two-way ethnic competition that continues to characterise Burundi’s political system. The Hutu-dominated gendarmerie responded to the assassination with an attempt to overtake the government, following which harsh retaliatory raids on behalf of the Tutsi-led army which massacred virtually the entire Hutu political elite, alongside thousands of Hutu civilians accused of supporting the revolt. Further on, the army was purged of Hutu elements and tens of thousands of Hutus fled to neighbouring countries, effectively ending for many years all significant political participation of Hutus in Burundi and consolidating Tutsi supremacy. The Tutsi-dominated army imposed the first of several military regimes that would monopolize government power until the early 1990s. In the interim there were ethnic clashes, including several massacres perpetrated by the Tutsi-dominated army.
Pierre Buyoya seized power in a 1987 coup. A period of progress and democratization followed, culminating in the 1993 multiparty presidential elections. There was, however, little progress on the most sensitive issue of all: accommodating greater Hutu participation in political life, specifically in the army, which was vehemently resisted by the Tutsi-dominated military establishment. The army remained the instrument for maintaining Tutsi hegemony. Significantly, Tutsi long held all command structure posts of the security services, including the police. Hutu Melchior Ndadaye defeated Buyoya in the elections, and appointed a broadly based government of both Hutu and Tutsi. Ndadaye did not succeed in realising his promise of national reconciliation before being assassinated by members of the army, alongside several of his own ministers in a coup on 21 October 1993. The abortive coup is said to have been masterminded by former president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, and was followed by extremism and turbulence, including acts of one-sided violence. In the days following the coup the elected government was de facto deprived of the exercise of power until 24 October 1993, during this period Tutsi members of the army responsible for the coup, announced the formation of a National Public Salvation Council with Hutu UPRONA former minister François Ngeze as its President. Provincial military commanders were asked to arrest FRODEBU Governors and replace them. A civilian government that included both FRODEBU and UPRONA were re-established on 24 October and civilian institutions in December 1993.
The general insecurity of the region greatly affected the developments in Burundi, and is said to have worsened the conditions for conflict resolution. Burundian rebel groups used bases in neighbouring countries such as Tanzania and the DR. Congo to stage raids and attacks into Burundi, leading to intergovernmental tension and cross-border raids on the part of the Burundian army. The Burundian army, further, is said to have operated bases of its own in the South Kivu region of the DR. Congo, supporting the opposition to the pre-2003 government. Soldiers of the post-genocide Rwandan Patriotic Army, possibly in exchange for Burundian military support in the DR. Congo, engaged in joint operations against Burundi insurgents at least in the first years of the conflict, particularly in the northern and central provinces. The armies of Rwanda and Burundi are said to have mirrored the cooperation of rebel groups. The government also cooperated militarily with the Rwandan-based RCD (Rassemblement congolais pour la democratise, Congolese Rally for Democracy), as well as having provided secondary support to the ADFL (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire, Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre). This myriad of collaborations resulted in the Burundian army also committing human rights abuses against civilians in neighbouring countries. Hundreds of thousands of refugees compounded the challenges facing the region, and strained the relationships between the countries.
After a few years of uneasy collaboration between the Hutu-led government and the Tutsi - dominated army-with the army largely ruling the interior together with Tutsi gunmen - a 1996 military coup reinstated Pierre Buyoya as president. The coup effectively ended French and US support to the government forces, previously taking the form of the provision of training and equipment, and led to international threats of sanctions. Although Buyoya’s regime grew increasingly stigmatized internationally, it managed to maintain an influx of arms from both private dealers as well as more conventional suppliers. 1998 saw positive political developments with the inclusion of several Hutus to the government, and the Arusha process underway. Progress on the most difficult issues - power-sharing arrangements and provisions for a more inclusive army - was, however, slow. A transitional government led by Buyoya took office in 2001, with cabinet posts split between Hutu and Tutsi. In 2003, Buyoya handed over power to the VP, Hutu leader Domitien Ndayizézé, who governed until the 2005 elections. Under peace agreement provisions former Hutu rebels began to be integrated into the new national army in 2004, making progress towards meeting the aim of including 40% former rebels in army leadership positions.
On 26 August 2005 Pierre Nkurunziza became President of Burundi following CNDD-FDD victories in Burundi elections. President Nkurunziza remained in office after elections in 2010, elections that had been boycotted by the opposition. In 2015 Nkurunziza was elected President for a third term. The constitution from 2005 only allowed the President to sit for two terms but Nkurunziza claimed that his first term did not count as he was elected by the parliament and not by popular vote. Evariste Ndayishimiye, a candidate who was hand-picked as Nkurunziza's successor by the CNDD-FDD, won the Presidential elections on 20 May 2020. Shortly after, on 9 June 2020, Nkurunziza died of natural causes. As per the constitution, Pascal Nyabenda, the president of the national assembly, led the government until Ndayishimiye's inauguration on 18 June 2020.
Rwanda reached de jure independence in 1962, but had been free from colonial domination since 1959, when Hutu political parties overthrew the Tutsi monarchy and instituted majority rule.
At independence the elected president became Gregoire Kayibanda, an ethnic Hutu. He was overthrown in 1973 in a military coup lead by Juvenal Habyarimana who became the military ruler of Rwanda from thereon. Habyarimana later transformed military rule into one-party rule, seizing control of the state together with his party; the Mouvement Révolutionnaire National pour le Développement (MRND). Habyarimana was killed in 1994, when his plane was shot down by unknown assailants, and his government overthrown by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) a few months later. During the time between Habyarimana’s death and the RPF)’s victory the government of Rwanda was led mainly by the MRND and the Coalition pour la Défense de la République (CDR) parties. These are the government parties which are primarily responsible for the Rwanda genocide of 1994. In addition to using government soldiers in the genocide against Tutsis and Hutu moderates the Habyarimana government funded and trained Hutu militias, such as the Interahamwe, which was used to carry out the killings.
The Hutu regimes from 1959-1994 received support from a number of states. Zaire (later the Democratic Republic of Congo) supported the government of Rwanda with troops in the initial stages of the armed conflict with the RPF), and France also lent military support to the regime around the same years. The French support did not include the contribution of warring troops, but saw the stationing in Rwanda of French troops that advised and assisted the Rwandan government as well as providing them with arms and equipment. Belgium also sent military support to Habyarimana’s regime in the form of arms and munitions, but cut off all such support when reports of massive human rights abuses reached Brussels. Also, Egypt and South Africa have been implicated in supplying arms to the government of Rwanda between 1990 and 1994.
Habyarimana’s government and the more extreme coalition government that followed it were ousted in late July 1994 by the RPF), which created a transitional multi-party government after ousting the MRND and CDR parties. Thus, from late July the government side in the armed conflict was composed of the government created by the RPF) following on its victory. Though in name a ‘government of national unity’ the government was in essence controlled by the RPF). This new government perpetrated one-sided violence when it took power in 1994, though not on the same scale as its predecessor. RPF) leader Paul Kagame went on to become the president of Rwanda when the transitional government was disbanded after elections in 2003.
The remnants of the former regime and many Hutu refugees chose to oppose the new government militarily in the years that followed. This by making incursions from bases in the neigbouring DR Congo (Zaire) and Burundi. In this episode of the conflict over government power in Rwanda the government of Rwanda became entagled in conflicts in DR Congo (Zaire) as they supported different rebel groups in the country. The government of Rwanda also continued to perpetrate one-sided violence against civilians, primarily of Hutu ethnicity, both on their own and together with its Congolese proxies.
The RPF’s transitional government came to be supported primarily by Burundi, but also received material support from the USA and Kenya.
The government of Rwanda has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
