- Burundi: Biography of a Small African Country
In its first ten years of independence, the emergent state of Burundi suffered the assassination of two prime ministers, several political massacres, two attempted coups, two successful coups, and in 1972, a revolt in the south followed by state-organized genocide. Except for path-breaking studies by René Lemarchand (Rwanda and Burundi [Praeger, 1970] and Burundi: Ethnocide as Discourse and Practice [Cambridge University Press, 1994]), these events went largely unreported in English-language media and unexplored in scholarly analysis. In 1988 communal violence broke out in the north, followed by another brutal repression. This time, however, pressured by external demands and internal necessity, the military ruler, Pierre Buyoya, engineered a national political accommodation and free elections in 1993, which were won by his opponent, Melchior Ndadaye.
Within four months, however, Ndadaye was assassinated and Burundi had slipped into civil war. Burundi's return from the chaos of the late nineties was punctuated by long, mediated negotiations among contending parties in Arusha, Tanzania—a two-year transition period beginning in 2003, leading eventually to successful elections in 2005. Were it not for the media spotlight on events in neighboring Rwanda, Burundi's story might again [End Page 190] have gone unreported or escaped comprehensive analysis.
Nigel Watt's book goes a long way toward filling the void. The book opens like a travelogue but turns quickly to a succinct reading of Burundi society and history. Watt's political overview is remarkable for its attention to detail and balanced assessment. Written in 2007, the book is close enough to the present to end with an assessment of Burundi's new regime, challenged as it is by security concerns, population growth, corruption, fragile institutions, and the regional virus of authoritarianism.
Watt's heroes, however, are not those who wield power—whose weaknesses he quickly exposes—but rather the victims of repression and war, along with the brave organizers in civil society who kept hope alive in Burundi's darkest days. From peacemakers at Kibimba to media reformers at Radio Ijambo, to human rights mobilizers at Iteka, Watts seems to know all the key players and has accurately described the mission and effect of each. With deft descriptions and telling quotations from his interviews, he captures the character and voice of these long-suffering people.
Just as insightful in analyzing Burundi's "poverty and development," Watt uses key statistics to document the devastating effect of twelve years of war and three years of embargo on economic production as well as education and health services. Challenges of a landlocked, land-scarce state still remain, making the trade-off between the production of export crops and of consumption crops particularly acute. This may also be the only book extant that devotes an entire chapter to the marginalized Twa. In addition, Watt's chapter titled "International Organizations" makes marvelous clarity of the alphabet soup of international organizations which have joined in Burundi's quest for peace and development.
In the latter part of the book, Watt devotes five chapters to indigenous peacebuilding initiatives in a country hell-bent on violence. Over the last fifteen years, grassroots efforts have been a major factor in turning Burundi finally toward a culture of peace. (As of July 2009, the oldest rebel group has just laid down its arms and joined the political fray.) Peace groups both in the capital city and in the rural hills now seek to bind up the nation's wounds. It remains to be seen if multiplied efforts of good-willed people can tie down and domesticate the demon of power certain to emerge in interparty competition for the communal, legislative, and presidential elections scheduled in 2010. One can only hope that Watt is right in placing his optimism in "millions of honest Burundians . . . Burundi's greatest resource." [End Page 191]
Spring Arbor, Michigan
Hope Africa University
Bujumbura, Burundi