Special Case: Burundi

Burundi, one of the world's poorest nations, is emerging from a 12-year, ethnic-based civil war (BBC 2006i, par. 1). Burundi has never participated in any UN peacekeeping operation and has received one UN peacekeeping operation. Burundi now has shown interest in participating in UN peace operations, and also considers peacekeeping as a tool for conflict resolution with Rwanda. This was stated while officially opening a course (military training), the Commandant of Rwanda Military Academy Brigadier General Frank Rusagara highlighted the significance of the course and hailed the efforts of the two nations to engage in joint ventures aimed at “identifying and solving the root causes of conflicts in their respective countries” (Baguma 2006, par. 1 quoting Rusagara 2006).

Burundi has received the United Nations Operations in Burundi (ONUB 2006, par. 1). The Security Council, by its resolution 1545 of May 2004, decided to establish the ONUB in order to support and help to implement the efforts undertaken by Burundians to restore lasting peace and bring about national reconciliation, as provided under the Arusha Agreement (Ibid., par. 2).

Initial variables of the data collection process:

UN/UN peacekeeping policy reform
No record.

Perception of peacekeeping
A leading pro-Tutsi party, the National Recovery Party (PARENA) has criticized the government of President Pierre Buyoya for accepting that foreign troops would be allowed into Burundi to keep the peace after eight years of civil war (IRIN 2001, par. 1). Africa News Service also informed:

In its newsletter of October 6, [2001] PARENA accused Buyoya of "formulating damaging policies" with looming "tragic consequences." It said the presence of the troops would be tantamount to an invasion of the country." The troops may be coming under the flag of cooperation but they will be treated as invaders," Net Press reported the leader of PARENA, former Burundi president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, as saying. Officers from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa ended a two-week mission to Burundi on Thursday to review the peace process and the feasibility of sending a small peacekeeping force for Burundi. (Ibid., par. 2)

Domestic political environment
After years of disagreement and delays, Burundi’s first communal and legislative elections since a bloody civil war were held in mid-2005, with the Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) sweeping to victory (EIU 2006h, 4).

The CNDD-FDD leader, Pierre Nkurunziza, has since been elected president by the new members of the National Assembly and the Senate. The Hutu-supremacist Parti pour la libération du peuple Hutu-Forces nationales pour la libération (Palipehutu-FNL) remains at war with the Burundian armed forces, and one of the first major challenges to face the new president will be an attempt to negotiate a peace deal with the rebels. (Ibid.)

The president, Pierre Nkurunziza, and his party, CNDD-FDD, are expected to maintain a firm grip on political power during the forecast period, but internal divisions could weaken the party (EIU 2006be, 1).

Domestic economic environment
Burundi is a small, landlocked and extremely poor country with few resources, which has been racked by civil war for over a decade (EIU 2006h, 21). A regional economic embargo and international aid freeze against Burundi during the late 1990s inflicted further damage, prompting an increasingly opaque and interventionist approach to economic policy from the government (Ibid.).

Military affairs
The armed forces are now more balanced (Ibid., 16). Historically the state armed forces have been mainly Tutsi, particularly the officer corps (Ibid.). However, following the peace agreement between the government and the CNDD-FDD, the integration of the former rebels into the country’s military structures has proceeded quickly (Ibid.).

Foreign policy
Burundi and Rwanda are very similar in their ethnic make-up and troubled pasts (Ibid.).

However, both have traveled very different routes to peace. The Burundians have openly admitted their country’s ethnic divisions, with prolonged negotiations between Hutu militias and Tutsi governments. In contrast, the Tutsi-dominated government of Rwanda, which condemns ethnicity as "false consciousness", has pursued a purely military strategy against the Hutu militia in that country. (Ibid.)

Relations between the Burundian and DRC governments, which were hostile during most of the Congolese war, have improved since 2001 (Ibid.). Tanzania has been the main external force driving the Burundian peace process since its inception and has a close association with the new government (Ibid., 17). Despite a widespread conviction among Burundian Tutsis that the Tanzanian government wants to take over Burundi, the most plausible explanation for its role in the peace negotiations is that it wants to solve the long-standing problem of the hundreds of thousands of Burundian refugees who have been living in Tanzania since the 1960s (Ibid.). South Africa regards peace in Burundi as central to achieving an overall settlement in the area around the Great Lakes and to stability in the region, and has deployed and risked significant resources to resolve the conflict (Ibid., 18).

The international donor community has backed the peace process in Burundi, motivated in part by the desire to avoid a repeat of the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994, and fully supports the new government (Ibid.).

Additional variables found after the preliminary analysis:

Climate changes
No record.

Independent negotiations taken by DPKO to seek troops
No record.

Independent negotiations taken by contributor countries to engage non-contributor countries
Nineteen officers of Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) and 10 senior officials of the Burundi army commenced a two-week Peace Support Operations Course at Rwanda Military Academy in Nyakinama, Ruhengeri in Northern Province in 2006 (Baguma 2006, par. 1).

While officially opening the course, the Commandant of Rwanda Military Academy Brigadier General Frank Rusagara highlighted the significance of the course and hailed the efforts of the two nations to engage in joint ventures aimed at identifying and solving the root causes of conflicts in their respective countries. "This course is handy not only for RDF officers but also for our brothers in the Burundi army, since we have a slightly similar post-independence political history, culture and language. It is better to jointly learn how we can pacify our countries," Brig. Gen. Rusagara observed during the function that was attended by several high-ranking military and police officials. The joint training follows a December 15 visit to Rwanda by Burundi's Army Chief of General Staff Brig. Gen. Samuel Gahiro, in which he visited the academy and also held discussions with his Rwandan counterpart Gen. James Kabarebe at the Ministry of Defence headquarters in Kigali. (Ibid.)

Meetings organized by other international organizations to engage in dialogue about peacekeeping
Burundi will send an additional 50 police officers to join the AU peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region, the Central African country's president said in 2006 (Niyoyita 2006, par. 2).

President Peter Nkurunziza said they would leave "very soon" to join 10 Burundian soldiers serving as military observers in Darfur. "This is a strong sign that the international community now has confidence in us and we have experiences to share," said Nkurunziza, himself a recently elected president and former rebel leader. Some 7,000 African troops are in Darfur, where the Arab-dominated government of Sudan is accused of encouraging its troops and Arab militias to attack ethnic tribal groups in an ongoing conflict that has led to the deaths of more than 180,000 people, most from famine and disease. (Ibid.)