Burundi Civil War - Background

Background

The origins of Tutsi and Hutu as distinct ethnic groups is unclear, but became the basis of a society organized under colonial racial schemes. In the case of the Belgians, and the Germans before them, casual observations revealed varying height differences among the resident peoples: the Twa who were short, the Hutu who were of medium height and the Tutsi who were tallest among them. It was also documented that in many cases, those who were among the tall group also raised cattle and tended to be politically and economically dominant. Those in the middle height group, on the other hand, tended to be poor and more agrarian. This prompted the use of what became known as the “ten-cow” rule. Those individuals who owned more than ten cows were described as “well-born,” equated with Caucasians, and given privileges by the colonists.

The ten-cow rule was not universally applied, however, and the existence of “petits Tutsi” continues to cause much debate in the field. This much is clear, the Belgian census of 1933-34 and subsequent division of “races” exacerbated latent regional and ethnic conflicts.

When anti-colonialism swept across Africa and agitation began for independence, Belgium bolted from the colonies in a hurry. Declaring an intention not to shed blood to hold to their colonies, the Belgians declared "pas un seul soldat pour Afrique" (not a single soldier for Africa) Federation with Rwanda was rejected, and Rwanda and Burundi separated. Rwanda underwent its "Social Revolution", became a republic and Hutus killed Tutsis. Burundi chose to retain its monarchy,.

Burundi’s first multi-party national elections were held on June 27, 1993, thirty-one years after the country gained its independence from Belgium in 1962. These elections were immediately preceded by 25 years of Tutsi military regimes beginning with Michel Micombero, who had launched a successful coup in 1966 and replaced the monarchy with a presidential republic.

The last of the coups was in 1987 and installed Tutsi officer Pierre Buyoya.. Buyoya attempted to institute a number of reforms to ease state control over media and attempted to facilitate a national dialogue. Instead of helping the problem, these reforms instead served to inflame ethnic tensions as hope grew amongst the Hutu population that the Tutsi monopoly was at an end. Local revolts subsequently took place by Hutu peasants against several Tutsi leaders in northern Burundi; these Hutu militias killed hundreds of Tutsi families in the process. When Buyoya sent in the army to quell the uprising, they in turn killed thousands of Hutu....