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Timeline of
Burundi’s Turmoil
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By Derek Tumusime (In NewVision)
In the African
traditional setting, cooking was at most done in clay pots, although clay is
referred as a heat insulator; however, there are tendencies where the pot will
emit excessive heat and later develop cracks before finally breaking into
pieces that cannot be stitched together any more.
The latest developments
from Burundi following President Pierre Nkurunziza pursuit and re-election for
a third term, seem to suggest that it is East Africa’s boiling pot which no one
is willing to carry off the fireplace with their hands not even member states
of the East African community of which Burundi is a member or even deploy the
East African Standby Force to nip in the bud the escalating violence that has
claimed over 200 lives and has forced more than 200,000 Burundians to become
refugees in neighboring countries.
In related development as
matter of fact the escalating violence is not on the headlines of the region’s
newspapers, we just can’t afford to go silent at this gradual stage of the
Burundi conflict as it is likely to have spillover effects to the entire East
African region.
The crux of the matter is
that Burundi with its history of instability has developed cracks wide enough
for her to break into pieces again.
Take for instance, the
recent failed attempt by Speaker of Burundi’s Parliament Pascal Nyabenda to
recall four of the country’s nine representatives to the East African Legislative
Assembly, who are reportedly not members of the ruling CNDD-FDD
party and are living outside Burundi out of fear for their security is a
clear indicator of the no- love relationship of the country’s body politic, a
volatile situation and is on the verge of anarchy, civil war, ethnic conflict,
inter alia, as the international community, such as the United Nations and
several high profile non-governmental organizations have warned.
Burundi, a member state
of the East African Community, is disintegrating at a faster rate under our
watch despite efforts by the regional bloc to broker a peace deal among the
antagonistic players of the country’s body politic.
However unfolding events
clearly show that there has been no breakthrough, to the extent the chief
mediator President Museveni who is deeply involved in his re-election
campaigns, at one of his several press conferences recently admitted that he
was not well versed with the latest events in Burundi but, according to
what he was hearing most probably from the press, was that the situation was
deteriorating.
We can forgive him since
he delegated his Defense minister Hon Dr Crispus Kiyonga, but again this
minister has been and is also involved in his parliamentary election campaigns
in his home district of Kasese, therefore too busy to attend to Burundi.
In the meantime the
regional bloc should have replaced the Ugandan team because of its busy
political calendar to attend to such sensitive regional security issues and
there is no doubt President Museveni would have performed his role better given
his experience in regional affairs and his participation in regional peace
building efforts such as interventions in South Sudan, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Somalia, inter alia.
The East African
Community [EAC] has not come out with a thorough explanation of how these peace
talks are progressing or whether they exist at all, in fact there is a vacuum
of information on its efforts to stabilize Burundi.
However tough and serious
response to the situation in Burundi has so far come, from the US in its
efforts to halt the escalating violence, President Barack Obama has imposed
heavy sanctions on four prominent figures in Burundi, such as freeze on their
assets and restrictions on visas to enter the US.
The targeted include; Maj
Gen Godefroid Niyombare the former chief of Burundi’s intelligence and leader
of the failed coup, Cyrille Ndayirukiye a former minister of defence, Godefriod
Bizimana the deputy director of the National Police and the Minister for Public
Security Alain Guillaume Bunyoni.
US also threatens to
impose sanctions against more leaders both in government and in opposition. But
the rest of the western powers who as usual, their initiatives stop at lip
service inform of condemnation but no or less action, although important but
it’s never enough, have resorted to evacuation of their diplomatic staff
especially the non-essential staff and family members.
Burundi could turn out to
be a breeding ground for regional instability like the Democratic Republic of
Congo which still harbors armed groups fighting neighboring countries such as
Rwanda, Uganda.
In this growing era of
radicalization and terrorism in Africa such the Boko Haram in Nigeria,
Al-shabab in Somalia, we cannot take the situation in Burundi for granted, for
instance , the recent countries which have become failed states such Libya and
Syria are now home to the ruthless Islamic state.
The East African region
especially the great lakes region since independence has been home to some of
the worst armed conflicts on the African continent; it has also witnessed some
of the worst atrocities in human history such as the 1994 ethnic cleansing in
Rwanda, the use of sex as a tool of war especially against innocent girls and
women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the LRA insurgency in Northern
Uganda, the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya, the recent civil war in South
Sudan( the Bor and other massacres ), not forgetting the sporadic terrorist
attacks in Kenya by Al-shabab, these and many more have befallen this
region.
At the height of these
armed conflicts the most affected are women and children, thousands have been
condemned to a refugee life and to makeshift displaced peoples’ camps and left
at the mercy of international Aid agencies for basic needs of survival.
Fundamental human rights
are violated with impunity, human life is extinguished mercilessly within no
time, young girls are rape and defiled at the orders of warlords, children are
displaced from their parents whom in most cases they never see again, such is
the brunt of armed conflict the people of Burundi have had to bear with in the
past and are likely to bear with it again.
We must appreciate the
fact that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere; Burundi should not slide
back to anarchy as we watch just like the 1994 Rwandese genocide and also
although not so recent the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya, where justice
for the victims is not forthcoming and in fact attempts of prosecuting
perpetrators by the international criminal court[ICC] is being frustrated not
only by Kenyans themselves but also by those other African countries which just
watched on as innocent Kenyans where being subjected to horror by their own.
The latest attempt
[futile] being, Kenya’s bid to have the rule on recanted evidence amended by
the assembly of state parties [ASP] so as in the case Deputy President William
Ruto recanted Evidence is dropped, this is unfortunate as it undermines the
principles of international [criminal justice] Law and the thirst for justice
for the victims of post-election violence in Kenya.
Therefore in the case of
Burundi we have the opportunity of the stopping the unrest before it further
escalates rather than wait to frustrate justice.
Last week’s Friday
attacks on military camps which are some of the worst since the unrest begun in
April this year, is pointer to a situation that is gradually getting out of
hand, therefore all options geared towards restoring sanity in Burundi must be
fast-tracked in pursuit of a long standing political solution to the crisis by
the international community.
Originally published in Uganda's NewVision
The
writer is an International law Student, with interest in Regional affairs [The
East African Community].
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