SUMMARY
In the context of the armed conflict in Burundi in the 1990s and 2000s, 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) did not only attack government forces but also made use of one-sided violence. Many analysts and scholars have depicted the armed conflict in Burundi as being one of ‘proxy targeting’, in this context a conflict in which the combatants attempt to inflict harm on one another through attacking civilians deemed to be hostile or unsupportive. One-sided violence committed by the Palipehutu-FNL still appears to have had several motives, some being found in the sphere of strategy and others being more based on individual or group interests.
In the strategic sphere the Palipehutu-FNL made use of the relatively commonplace strategy of killing civilians for their perceived ‘disloyalty’, i.e. the belief that civilians in a specific area have supported or are supporting the government’s agenda or forces. Also, since the Palipehutu-FNL was one of the few rebel movements that did not sign on to the Arusha peace process (not until 2006, and then with questionable enthusiasm), and thus lost much popular support in the mid-2000s, the group punished the civilian population for the loss of such support. The group also carried out killings with the stated goal of showing that the government could not protect its citizens, in other words attempting to undermine the government’s authority by any means available.
Also in the strategic sphere, violence carried out by the Palipehutu-FNL in Burundi, which was its main stage of operations, was often related to looting and pillaging. These activities, which often saw one-sided killings, were related both to the general need to feed and equip soldiers and to personal gain for individual soldiers and/or commanders. Such operations also included sexual violence and rape, beatings and mutilations, and the razing of villages.
The bulk of one-sided violence perpetrated by the Palipehutu-FNL was aimed towards Tutsi civilians. Just as the many other rebel groups that existed during Burundi’s intrastate conflict in the 1990s and 2000s the Palipehutu-FNL was predominantly Hutu, fighting against an establishment controlled by the Tutsi minority. This context, coupled with the Palipehutu-FNL’s strictly ethnic interpretation of the conflict, serves to explain the group’s primary focus on attacking Tutsis. Hutus were however also targeted, specifically those who had allegedly collaborated with the government.
When carrying out one-sided violence Palipehutu-FNL fighters have not been heavily armed, primarily making use of light arms such as rifles and machetes. Geographically the violence has been concentrated to Burundi, but some events have also been recorded in the DR. Congo (Zaire).
The Palipehutu-FNL first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2002, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 24 June that year, when the group’s fighters killed 11 civilians in Bugarama village in Burundi. Palipehutu-FNL fighters had however committed one-sided violence before this year, but then as part of the more general Hutu rebels – civilians dyad.
