Burundi: Third Republic (1987 - 1996)

Updated April 2005

The military coup was led by Pierre Buyoya, who from the outset expressed his intention to broaden the popular basis of the government by incorporating Hutus into government. His failure to move quickly, as he attempted to mollify hard-liners within the ruling elite, disappointed Hutu expectations and led to renewed uprisings (Institute for Security Studies 2005).

In 1988 a Hutu uprising led to large scale massacres of both Tutsis by Hutus and of Hutus by the army. In response Buyoya suspended the 1981 Constitution and created the post of Prime Minister which he gave to Adrien Sibomana, a Hutu of the Frodebu Party. Hutus were incorporated into a unity government and a timetable was set for a transition to civilian rule (Kimber 1996).

The economic boom that had prevailed hitherto, fueled by unsustainable levels of government spending and high coffee prices, petered out and investment evaporated as levels of violence rose.

In an attempt to reverse the decline into communal violence, public debate on ethnicity, social justice and national unity was encouraged. The issue of factionalism was openly debated and the Charter of National Unity adopted in February 1991, followed by a new constitution in March 1992, which was endorsed in a referendum (Mthembu-Salter 2002).

In June 1993 elections were held in terms of the new constitution and the Frodebu candidate, Melchior Ndadaye, beat Buyoya in the presidential race by 65% of the vote to 32%. Frodebu also won the legislative elections taking 65 of the 81 seats, while Buyoya's Uprona won the other 16. An Uprona member, Sylvie Kinigi, was made Prime Minister (Institute for Security Studies 2005).

The prospect of a democratically elected government that might strip the Bururi Tutsis of their power and wealth, however, led to discontent within the army. Meanwhile Ndadaye embarked on an IMF's Structural Adjustment Programme to stem the economic decline. This required steep price rises for basic goods, a devaluation of the currency and the privatization of parastatals which led to widespread hardship and alienated the Hutu masses at a time when Ndadaye most needed their support to check the army (Kimber 1996).

In October Ndadaye was assassinated by pro-Bagaza paratroopers in a failed coup attempt. In the violence that followed, over 30 000 people, both Hutu and Tutsi, perished. This was the beginning of a new spiral of violence that would lead to the deaths of 300 000 people, mostly civilians, within the next ten years (Mthembu-Salter 2002).

As the country slid towards chaos Parliament appointed Cyprien Ntaryamira as president, but he was killed, together with Rwandan President Habyarimana, in the plane crash that signaled the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda (Institute for Security Studies 2005, Mthembu-Salter 2002).

Uprona used the disarray of the government and its dependence on the Tutsi dominated army for security, to extract disproportionate representation in the government of Sylvestre Ntibantunganya in exchange for their support (Mthembu-Salter 2002).

Renewed communal violence and retaliatory massacres by the army led to the break away of the Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie (CNDD) from Frodebu in 1994. Under Leonard Nyangoma, the CNDD's military wing, the FDD, began a guerrilla war against the army. The war intensified as Hutu refugees from Rwanda and Burundi swelled the numbers of the guerrillas and as new Politico-military formations such as Palipehutu become active (Institute for Security Studies 2005).

In 1996, alarmed by the spiralling conflict on his doorstep, and armed with a mandate from the UN and the OAU, President Nyerere of Tanzania pressurised the Bururi government to accept a regional peace keeping force. Ntibantunganya's acquiescence angered the military who viewed the force as a threat. Ntibantunganya was forced into exile and Buyoya resumed power.

References

INSTITUTE FOR SECURITY STUDIES 2005 "Burundi: Political System and history", [www] http://www.iss.co.za/AF/profiles/Burundi/Politics.html [opens new window] (accessed 22 Oct 2007).

KIMBER, C 1996 "Coming to terms with barbarism in Rwanda and Burundi" IN International Socialism 73, December, [www] http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj73/kimber.htm [opens new window] (accessed 22 Oct 2007)

MTHEMBU-SALTER, G 2002 "Self-Determination Regional Conflict Profile: Burundi" IN Self determination in focus, Foreign Policy in Focus, [www] http://www.selfdetermine.org/conflicts/burundi_body.html [opens new window] (accessed 22 Oct 2007).