c. 1996 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) Trouble has been brewing for centuries in Burundi. But longstanding tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups that were exacerbated by European colonists in the 19th century have been manipulated by present-day political leaders to create a deadly situation.
Hutus first came to what is now Burundi around 1000 A.D. About 600 years later, Tutsis began moving into the area from the north, present-day Uganda and Ethiopia. Over time, Tutsis established in Burundi a system akin to feudalism.
In the colonial era, longstanding ethnic divisions between Hutus and Tutsis were exacerbated, first by German and later by Belgian settlers, who were scrambling for a piece of Africa along with the other 19th century European powers.
Colonial administrators tended to favor the Tutsis, whom they saw as a natural elite. Some colonists were attracted to theories prevailing in Europe at the time that cast Tutsis as the descendents of the biblical figure Ham, the son of Noah. They came to regard the tall, high-cheekboned Tutsis as”superior Africans,”a”missing link”between whites and blacks. Hutus, in contrast, were relegated to serfdom.
Colonial-era Tutsis generally ranked in a higher social order through their ownership of cattle, widely seen as a symbol of wealth in Africa, and thus exerted a greater degree of political control. The Hutus mainly worked the land as farmers.
Rather than destroy the existing socio-political system, Europeans tapped into it, relying on Tutsi chieftains to administer the colonies, and even helping them to defeat the last of the Hutu chiefs holding power in the interior of the country.
The practice of issuing identity cards according to ethnic groups was first introduced to Burundi by Belgian colonists. From the late 1800’s, church leadership also reflected the social and political prominence of Tutsi over Hutu. Seminaries were mainly open to Tutsis and native-born church leaders came mainly from their ranks. Hutus were the focus of missionary activities, but they did not rise to leadership positions within Catholic and Protestant churches as frequently as Tutsis.
Although Europeans helped lay the groundwork for ethnic divisions in Burundi in the 19th century, political extremists from both sides have used the issue of ethnicity to create the current crisis.
Some estimate that as many as 500,000 Burundians have died in inter-ethnic fighting since the county gained independence in 1962. Outbreaks of violence erupted in 1963, 1965 and again in 1972, when a brief Hutu uprising resulted in the Tutsi-dominated army killing at least 100,000 Hutus and driving another 200,000 into exile.
In 1993, Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu who was Burundi’s first democratically elected president, was assassinated by Tutsi paratroopers. A state of civil war has existed ever since, which has claimed 150,000 lives.
On July 25, the army staged yet another coup ousting the civilian president, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, who fled to the home of the American ambassador in Bujumbura, where he still resides. Tutsi military strongman Maj. Pierre Buyoya became the new president.
In response to the coup, Hutu rebels stepped up their campaign, launching their largest offensive in the last three years, displacing some 30,000 people in Northern Burundi. Regional governments responded with an economic embargo that has isolated the nation.
Buyoya announced in September that he was reinstating the parliament and was allowing political parties to operate again. The move was widely seen as an attempt by Buyoya to convince regional leaders that it was time to drop the embargo. Hutu leaders dismissed Buyoya’s move, pointing out that the constitution remained suspended and that the major remained fully in charge of the country.
Buyoya has repeatedly said there will be no talks with the rebels until they lay down their arms and reject what he calls,”an ideology of genocide.” Hutu rebels, meanwhile, have rejected any talks with Buyoya.
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