Keep Africa's good-news story good

War-ravaged Burundi has made amazing gains recently. But it urgently needs aid.

By Jan Oberg

from the March 15, 2007 edition

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BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI - After the genocidal wars in Burundi and Rwanda in the 1990s, the international community focused almost exclusively on the latter, perhaps because its genocide was larger and faster. Ever since, Rwanda has been synonymous with "genocide."

About 300,000 died in neighboring Burundi's long-running conflict, many more were wounded, and hundreds of thousands fled or became displaced. But today, Burundi is synonymous with "peace-building."

Burundi is not a perfect success story. It remains the world's third-poorest country, with a per capita annual income of just $140. But its ability to establish a stable, peaceful government following so many years of violent conflict offers powerful lessons about progress to Africa and those who wish to see it prosper.

Burundi's positive momentum is threatened, however, by flood and famine. To prevent a return to bloodshed, donor nations must step up their support, particularly in health and education. There are few places on earth where small sums would make a bigger difference.

When the Arusha Peace Accords that ended the conflict were signed in 2000, few observers held high hopes for Burundi. Fear, illiteracy, AIDS, violence, power games, and economic deprivation were still rampant; you could not mention Hutu or Tutsi in public places.

It's here the good story begins. A power-sharing structure and transitional government took hold, tens of thousands of adult and child soldiers were demobilized, and a cease-fire agreement was signed with the last rebel group. In a referendum, a new constitution was adopted that most people, including the illiterate, understood to mean peace. Free, fair, and peaceful elections were held, helped by a well-organized UN mission (ONUB) and a determined NGO community.

A former fighter, Pierre Nkurunziza, was elected president in 2005; he admitted publicly to having done bad things in the "dark years" but is now popular and seen as a visionary. He's a soccer-playing man of the people and a born-again Christian deeply concerned about the next generation's education and value orientation. He is also determined to rule out corruption. He hands back unused travel funds when returning from trips. His door is open to visitors every Tuesday. The government's policy plan is filled with humanistic vision.

It all corresponds remarkably with the longing for peace, reconciliation, development, security, and democracy expressed by Burundians. Many have concluded that their civil war was not an "ethnic" war but a struggle for power amid poverty, corruption, and class divisions; ethnicity was merely the vehicle for playing it out. They have relied on the bashingantahe – councils of wise community leaders, which have traditionally been used to mediate conflicts in the bush. I've seen far more reconciliation and postwar coexistence here than anywhere in the former Yugoslavia.

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