SUMMARY

During the intrastate armed conflict in Burundi from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s the Hutu rebel movements of the country did not only engage in fighting with the Tutsi-dominated government. Some groups also fought one another for dominance for example CNDD (Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie, National Council for the Defence of Democracy) and the Palipehutu-FNL (Parti pour la libération du Peuple Hutu - Forces Nationales de liberation, Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People- Forces for the National Liberation) in 1996-1997.

In December 1996 political infighting between Palipehutu-FNL and CNDD broke out in the Kitali refugee camp as both parties attempted to become the leading party in the camp. In 1997 the groups fought over CNDD's wish to enter into negotiations with the government and CNDD’s rise as a more popular movement than Palipehutu-FNL. When CNDD-FDD split from the original CNDD movement in 1998, as CNDD entered negotiations, the conflict between CNDD and Palipehutu-FNL was dissolved, since the bulk of political and military power was retained within CNDD-FDD that did not wish to negotiate. CNDD-FDD has at times cooperated with and at times clashed with Palipehutu-FNL.

The non-state conflict between CNDD and Palipehutu-FNL was first included in UCDP data in 1997. In July, clashes between the two groups, in Murwi commune, Burundi, had resulted in 214 battle-related deaths.