Tensions were building up in Burundi for several months: would President
Nkurunziza run for a third term? Some were in favour, many others
were not. If he were to run, would this be constitutional? How was
the population going to react? And the security forces? What about
international actors?
primarily political. At stake is a political culture
initiated by the Arusha Agreement signed in the
year 2000. After years of civil war and decades
of ethnic strife, the Arusha Agreement laid
down the political foundations of a new Burundi
through a power-sharing arrangement between
former enemies in particular and all segments
of Burundian society in general. Filip Reyntjens
explains that Burundi’s crisis has no ethnic
dimension, it is a failure of democracy. He states
that the model adopted to pacify ethnic strife has
been largely successful so far. Finally, Nkurunziza’s
decision and the ensuing unrest have implications
for the wider Great Lakes Region of Africa. People
Burundi in crisis: what is at stake?
Insights from IOB researchers and student
®Reuters
Nkurunziza’s announcement was expected on
different occasions during the first months of
this year. Many postponements followed. Then,
when in late April he finally confirmed he would
run for a third term, Burundi was plunged into a
severe political crisis affecting the institutional,
political, social and regional landscape. Exchange
to Change collected IOB staff and students’
reactions to the Burundian crisis, offering a variety
of angles of what is at stake. To begin, a current
IOB student, Camille Munezero, discusses his
experience with and interpretation of current
events in Burundi. We asked him how he sees
things evolve in the coming weeks and months.
On 5 May, Burundi’s constitutional court validated
Nkurunziza’s candidacy but one of the judges fled
the country citing pressure to comply with the
President’s desire to contest another election.
Similar defections followed at the level of the
electoral commission, parliament and even a vicepresident fled. The credibility of Burundi’s state
institutions is at risk. Stef Vandeginste reflects on
the constitutional question: is Nkurunziza eligible
for the 2015 presidential elections?
People took to the streets, especially in the
16
capital Bujumbura, to contest the President’s
decision. Police and protestors faced each other
during several weeks of manifestations. Others
fled to neighbouring countries out of fear of
what was and is about to follow or because they
were threatened and intimidated by presidential
followers. Bert Ingelaere, a postdoctoral research
fellow at IOB, attempts to shed light on the
experiences of the Burundian population based
on recently conducted fieldwork in the Burundian
hills.
In the midst of all of this, elements in the
Burundian army mounted a coup d’état. General
Niyombare, the coup leader, and his allies failed.
Some were arrested, others fled, including
Niyombare himself. They announced the start of
an armed struggle against Nkurunziza and his
supporters. At the time of writing, a new period of
civil war is looming. Nina Wilén has followed the
integration of the former rebel forces in Burundi’s
regular army since the end of the civil war. What
does she make of this coup d’état? And how does
she see the future actions of Burundi’s security
forces that have an important role to play as
peacekeepers on the African continent as well?
Despite Burundi’s history of large-scal