Abstract
Burundi has experienced cycles of political and interethnic violence for over 40 years since gaining independence from Belgium in 1962. The 2000 Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement called for the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms including a truth and reconciliation commission and a tribunal for prosecuting past mass human rights violations. This chapter analyses the evolution of civil society organisations in Burundi and their role in the pursuit of transitional justice. Drawing on field research conducted in Burundi during 2012–2016, the analysis reveals tensions between diverse agendas and priorities, as well as overlap and mutual support. It considers examples of cooperation and contestation, empowerment and resistance, among civil society actors as they seek to influence transitional justice processes and outcomes. The chapter concludes by looking at how the political and security crisis that began in April 2015 led to new divisions between civil society leaders in exile and those remaining in Burundi, who support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that finally commenced operations in March 2016.
This research was supported in part by funding from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. I am indebted to Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS) and its executive director, Dr. David Niyonzima, for hosting my research visits to Burundi over the past 4 years, and to Raphael Manirakiza, a former civil society activist who left Burundi in mid-2013, for the translation of key documents and helping to fill some of the gaps in my knowledge and understanding of the Burundian political context and the role of civil society. I take full responsibility for any mistakes or misinformation I may have unwittingly reproduced in this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
Sources included participant observation, interviews and meetings during 8 separate visits to Burundi between May 2012 and August 2016, and 1 visit to Rwanda in August 2016, with a number of different representatives or members of government, the United Nations , funding bodies and local and international NGOs, including CENAP, FORSC, Impunity Watch, Global Rights, GiZ, THARS, QPN Burundi, MiPAREC, AMEPCI, La Benevolencija Grands Lacs, AFSC, RCN Justice & Democratie, members of FONAREC, GRJT and the UN Transitional Justice Unit. Individual interviewees and informants are not directly named in the interests of confidentiality and security.
- 2.
Note that this conclusion reflects the perspective of those in exile and the diaspora, including both Hutu and Tutsi, who are openly opposed to the third term of the current president. Civil society leaders remaining in Burundi who are supporting the CVR process do not necessarily see themselves as taking a political position, but rather as supporting peace, reconciliation and healing for their fellow Burundians. Personal interviews, Bujumbura, Kigali and Sydney, July–August 2016.
- 3.
Many of these human rights, peace and development NGOs, while based in the capital city of Bujumbura, also have a strong presence and connection with communities in rural areas, including especially the second biggest province of Gitega.
- 4.
Interviews conducted in Bujumbura in August 2016.
- 5.
Personal interview, Kigali, August 2016.
- 6.
Examples of the increasing influence of CSOs at the time included the release from prison of several opposition and CSO leaders, and the allowing of CSOs which had been suspended to recommence operations.
- 7.
This was in contrast to the initial position of a number of CSOs and opposition political parties which had determined to give the new CNDD-FDD government a chance and not actively oppose it.
- 8.
http://reliefweb.int/report/burundi/burundi-reverse-ban-civil-society-group (Accessed 10 December 2016).
- 9.
The civil society leaders and organisations discussed in this chapter should be distinguished from those which have been created by the government as “front” NGOs, ostensibly to counterbalance the perceived opposition bias of existing CSOs. They include PISC-Burundi (the platform for Burundian civil society) and CAPES+ (the collective of associations of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS), which have praised the Burundian Government’s banning of other CSOs since April 2015 as well as the expulsion of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and denounced the politicisation of civil society groups such as APRODH and FORSC. http://www.iwacu-burundi.org/englishnews/pisc-burundi-and-capes-praise-government-ban-on-other-civil-society-organisations/ (Accessed 10 December 2016).
- 10.
Interviews conducted in Sydney and Bujumbura, July–August 2016.
- 11.
Meetings with CSO leaders in Bujumbura in 2012 and 2013, and interviews conducted in 2014.
- 12.
In 2016, Mbunimpa was the recipient of the Alison des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism. https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/09/01/pierre-claver-mbonimpa-burundi (Accessed 10 December 2016).
- 13.
Interviews conducted in Bujumbura and Kigali, August 2016.
- 14.
While this perception of increasing division was reported by some civil society leaders in exile in Kigali, it was not reported by all, and it was not the view expressed by civil society leaders remaining in Burundi who were more likely to express solidarity with those in exile. My preliminary analysis suggested that the division was not between Hutu and Tutsi, or between those who supported and those who opposed the ruling party, but between those who were united across ethnic lines in working for peace whether inside the country or in exile, and those who were more actively opposing the president’s third term and perceived the struggle in more political and ethnic terms.
- 15.
The consultations were funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund.
- 16.
Some CSOs have subsequently called for the CVR to stop its work and to recommence when the mandate can be expanded to cover human rights violations committed in association with the political crisis commencing in April 2015. In November 2016 the UN Human Rights Council set up an independent commission of inquiry to investigate human rights violations in Burundi since April 2015, which is mandated to engage with Burundian authorities and other stakeholders, including civil society, refugees, UN agencies and regional bodies. The International Criminal Court (ICC) meanwhile is continuing its preliminary examination of alleged crimes against humanity committed in Burundi since April 2015. Atrocities Watch Africa, Burundi Watch Update 14–20 November & 21–27 November 2016, http://www.atrocitieswatch.org.
- 17.
Interview conducted in Bujumbura, August 2016.
- 18.
Interview with local civil society member of the GRJT, August 2016.
- 19.
Meetings with local and international civil society representatives, July 2013, June 2014 and August 2016.
- 20.
Meetings with local civil society members of the GRJT, July 2013.
- 21.
For an analysis of how the Burundian Government was appearing to comply with international obligations in relation to transitional justice while failing to genuinely commit to their implementation, see Taylor (2013b).
- 22.
Interviews conducted in Bujumbura, June 2014.
- 23.
Allegedly nyakuri and not genuine opposition parties. Interviews conducted in Bujumbura and Sydney, July–August 2016.
- 24.
Meetings with local civil society members in Bujumbura, August 2016, and in Sydney since the establishment of the CVR in early 2016, considering the political nature of the appointment of commissioners and confirming the perception that none of those appointed genuinely represented civil society. This perception represented the perspective that religious leaders had been co-opted to a partisan political agenda.
- 25.
UN Security Council resolution 2137 of 13 February 2014, which extended the mandate of BNUB to the end of 2014, included the following in relation to transitional justice: 15. Calls upon the Government of Burundi to work with international partners and BNUB for the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms, including a credible and consensual Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help foster an effective reconciliation of all Burundians and durable peace in Burundi, in accordance with the results of the work of the Technical Committee, the 2009 national consultations, Security Council Resolution 1606 (UNSC 2005) as well as the Arusha Agreement of August 28, 2000.
- 26.
Note that in October 2016 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, whose mandate included transitional justice, was expelled by the Burundian Government.
- 27.
Interview with the Head of the TJU, Robert Kotchani, in Bujumbura, June 2014.
- 28.
See also Lambourne (2014) for an account of the election process and interviews with some of the FONAREC/JT community facilitators.
- 29.
Interviews conducted in Bujumubura and Gitega, Burundi, July 2013, June 2014 and December 2014.
- 30.
Interviews conducted with civil society leaders in Bujumbura and Kigali, August 2016.
- 31.
The original founding of the GRJT is remembered differently by a number of local civil society members who told me that it was run by Impunity Watch and/or Global Rights and started by Louis Marie Nindorera.
- 32.
It is possible that additional group statements were issued, but they are not on public record.
- 33.
- 34.
Interview with civil society members of the GRJT in June 2014; original memorandum in French on file with the author. According to another civil society member of the GRJT interviewed in August 2016, the memorandum was sent out by Ligue ITEKA before it was agreed by the group.
- 35.
When conducting my field research in Burundi I was unable to find records of the group’s members, meetings or activities, other than a limited number of memoranda issued in the past few years, so I have relied primarily on interviews with members of the group for this analysis.
- 36.
Interviews with civil society members of GRJT conducted in Bujumbura in 2012 and August 2016.
- 37.
Interview with civil society leader conducted in Bujumbura in 2012.
- 38.
Interview with civil society leader in Bujumbura, August 2016.
- 39.
On at least one occasion, the general secretary and spokesperson of AMEPCI, Aloys Batungwanayo, led a campaign objecting to the Burundian Government bulldozing mass gravesites to make way for a road.
- 40.
Interview with civil society member of the GRJT, Bujumbura, 2012.
- 41.
Interview with civil society member of the GRJT, Bujumbura, 2012.
- 42.
Interview with civil society member of the GRJT, Bujumbura, 2012.
- 43.
Interviews with civil society members of the GRJT in Bujumbura in August 2016.
- 44.
Interviews with civil society leaders in Bujumbura in August 2016; copy of letter dated July 22, 2016, on file with the author, from the president of the CVR , Jean Louis Nahimana, inviting civil society representatives to a workshop to set up the civil society platform. The initiative to involve civil society in the CVR was supported by the American Friends Service Committee comprising local staff based in Bujumbura.
- 45.
Interviews with civil society leaders in Bujumbura and Kigali, August 2016.
- 46.
THARS and GIZ ZFD, “Study of the Needs in Psychosocial Accompaniment for Victims during the Process of Transitional Justice and particularly during the phase of preparation and implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Burundi”, Phase 1, study done in the provinces of Ngozi, Kayanza, Gitega and Makamba, April 2012 (official English translation from the original report released in French).
- 47.
The 3-day workshop “Transitional Justice: Theory and Practice” was organised by QPN Burundi in conjunction with THARS and conducted by Dr. Wendy Lambourne, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney. It was held at the THARS Training Centre in Gitega, Burundi, on July 9–11, 2013.
- 48.
It is this aspect of the model which has led to misleading perceptions that the Quaker NGOs must therefore be aligned politically with the ruling party, and, since April 2015, that their support of the CVR is driven by their Hutu ethnicity. Interviews conducted in Bujumbura in 2014 and 2016, and Kigali and Sydney in 2016.
- 49.
By contrast, QPN Burundi and Quaker NGO leaders were generally perceived as politically neutral and have worked either independently or cooperatively under the banner of the GRJT.
- 50.
Interviews with civil society leaders from CENAP and THARS, Bujumbura, August 2016.
- 51.
Interview with representative of local civil society media organisation, Bujumbura, July 2013.
- 52.
According to Pacifique Manirakiza (2016: 56–57), civil society in Burundi had a minimal impact on transitional justice policies because it was not sufficiently proactive and strategic in its mobilisation.
- 53.
Mostly new evangelical Protestant churches. The Roman Catholic Church has openly expressed its opposition to the President’s third term.
- 54.
http://www.rfi.fr/emission/20160511-filip-reyntjens-burundi-universite-anvers-genocide-1972-ethnicite (Accessed 19 June 2016); interviews conducted in Bujumubra and rural areas of Burundi in June and December 2014, April 2015 and August 2016.
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Lambourne, W. (2018). Cooperation and Conflict: Civil Society Resistance and Engagement with Transitional Justice in Burundi. In: Brankovic, J., van der Merwe, H. (eds) Advocating Transitional Justice in Africa. Springer Series in Transitional Justice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70417-3_6
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