الأوضاع السياسية في بورندي 1962-2005

Rp-Political situation in Burundi 1962-2005.pdf

The African continent is of great importance to the world As mentioned it is the world’s breadbasket due to its large area and the abundance of resources within and above its surface, Therefore European countries have been vying for it since the beginning of geographical explorations in the fifteenth century, so that those countries reached its coasts and penetrated its lands, turning the continent into colonies distributed among European countries The country of Burundi, formerly known as Urundi, was the destination of the Germans and then Belgium, as it was the only African country whose colonial policies sought to obtain it as a colonial outlet in the center of the continent, out of their desire to use it as a launching pad for occupying more lands under the pretext of preaching the Christian religion and bringing Western civilization to it African countries have attracted the attention of Iraqi researchers in recent years, A number of theses and dissertations have been written at various Iraqi universities, addressing the political, economic, and social aspects of more than one African country However, the Republic of Burundi has not received any academic study at our universities. Therefore, our dissertation, titled The Political Situation in Burundi (1962-2005), serves as the starting point for studying political changes and their major impact on the country’s population at all levels. The first date is 1962, the date of Burundi’s independence, and the second is 2005, the end of the Burundi civil war In this thesis, we attempt to answer a number of questions in an attempt to understand the political situation in Burundi. Did colonialism, under its various names, have an impact on the divisions that Burundi has reached? Did Burundian political forces fall victim to the political legacy of the colonial period? Did ethnic conflict play a major or minor role in the country’s entry into civil war? Can a specific group of Burundians be blamed for the tragedies that the country has experienced? Did the lust for power among army leaders and politicians play a role in exacerbating the political and ethnic crisis in the country? What were the effects of the ethnic war? Did the regional and international stance have an impact on the continuation of unrest and instability? Although nations are not built by dividing their people, unless they want to enslave and exploit them, we see that Burundi during our specific study period has been a victim of generations of divisions, which in turn led to ethnic massacres or the exile of its people outside the country under the pretext of ethnic differences. As a result, Burundi has been suffering to this day.
Through our study we can reach the following conclusions:
To understand the history of any country, we must trace its development and progress, and understand its past. What distinguishes Burundi society, above all, is peaceful coexistence during the reign of two systems: the monarchy and the republic. Then, the unpeaceful coexistence that characterized the country’s society under the republican system has shown us that the Burundian people experienced two phases of intellectual and cultural production under the rule of two different regimes in the country. 3-Colonialism contributed to the

activation of the card of ethnic conflicts in the country, especially between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority. If one sought to eliminate the other to achieve its own interests and for a specific goal, knowledge about Burundi and the countries of the region is based primarily on misunderstanding. Explorers were the first to discover organized kingdoms in this dark part of Africa. In their search for the source of the Nile, they believed that this source was located in the heart of the region, thus feeding the imagination of a mysterious and wondrous Africa. These first contacts defined the societies of this region of Africa for a long time, which remained trapped in fixed racial and ethnic patterns.2- The Europeans drew up plans to implement their projects of control over the country, and as a result, Burundi entered the colonial phase, justifying their presence by rebuilding and developing the culture of that society with Western culture, following their well-known slogan of developing underdeveloped countries to make them more advanced. Although we know that this is a story that the West literally invented to justify colonial invasion projects and then direct the policies drawn up by the West after they studied Burundian society under the monarchy, their policy began to see it necessary to dance on the issue of creating the seed of ethnic discord, and the seeds of their ideas began to grow after they described the Tutsi ethnicity as allies of the West, and they are the only ones capable of participating in the exercise of power in the country. The German and Belgian colonists benefited from using ethnic concepts to guide their administration of the region, as dividing the Burundian people into divided sects and conflicting villages makes it easier for the colonists to follow a policy of “indirect rule” over that country. Belgium began its colonial plans after they launched a political program through which the Tutsi were granted vacancy in positions in the country. …to be appointed as representatives of their policies in governing the regions and districts, and gradually controlling the Hutu majority and isolating them from jobs, and access to schools became reserved for the children of Tutsi leaders. The reality in the country suggests that the Tutsi are the ones who enjoy support from the Europeans in governing the country.3-The Hutus demanded greater equality, believing that the Belgian colonial administration had neglected them and favored the Tutsi. Therefore, the Hutu people decided to engage in the process of liberation from Belgian colonialism. The Rwandan “social” revolution in 1959 also contributed, sounding the alarm bell for the colonizers. The Rwandan revolution had a dramatic impact in Burundi, also eliminating Tutsi dominance in the country. Since 1959, the course of events in the country has been dominated by ethnic identity, which, in a distorted and reflexive strategy, led to the killing of thousands on both sides in the future, motivated by ethnicity.

4- After gaining independence in 1962 and ending the monarchy in 1963, Burundi was… 1966, on the verge of a security collapse, Burundians were divided in their opinions Some watched events helplessly, while others preferred political turmoil, exploiting ethnic conflict and political coups under the slogan “No War, No Peace” This left Burundian politicians with two options: either the Burundian people and the country’s ruling leadership commit themselves together to rebuilding Burundi as a unified and reconciled country, bound by the National Reconciliation Charter. Or they could choose the second option: continue the violence and ethnic conflict. Perhaps Burundi, in one way or another, agreed to use the second option to sound the alarm about ethnic conflict. The year 1972 witnessed the massacres that the country witnessed.
5- The country’s political elites preferred the second option. They could have united their efforts by following the first option and building the Republic of Burundi. However, the country’s politicians lacked a high degree of political awareness and the ability to extricate their country from the cycle of ethnic conflict. They were not capable of shouldering the responsibility of ending the ethnic conflict, In the country, to conclude that Burundi did not need to change its political institutions, in Burundi in 1972, the Micombero regime took advantage of the rebellion that broke out in the south of the country to carry out repression targeting the Hutus, under the pretext of saving the Tutsi minority, so the Tutsi supporters launched an uncompromising war against the Hutus, and hundreds of thousands of Hutus were imprisoned, arrested and slaughtered within a few weeks.