Little known in the English-speaking world, Burundi is Rwanda's twin, a small Central African country with a complex history of ethnic tension between its Hutu and Tutsi populations that has itself experienced traumatic events, including mass killings of over 200,000 people. The country remained
in a state of simmering civil war until 2004, after which Julius Nyerere and Nelson Mandela took turns as mediators in a lengthy, and eventually successful, peace process which has endowed Burundi with new institutions, including a new constitution that led to the election of Pierre Nkurunziza as
president in 2005.
After some years of modest progress Burundi's peace was shattered again when the president decided to stand for a third term in 2015. The tensions today are more political than ethnic but the country faces many other problems, above all the entrenched poverty which
has seen Burundi designated as one of the most deprived countries on earth.
Nigel Watt's book discusses the troubled political fortunes of this beautiful yet disturbed country which is now part of the East African Community. He traces the origins of its political crises, sheds light on
Burundi's recent history by means of interviews with leading participants and those whose lives have been affected by horrific events, helps demystify the country's 'ethnic' divisions and follows the fortunes of the Nkurunziza regime.
1. A Quick Tour of the Country
2. Transport, Language, Culture, Religion
HISTORY AND PAINFUL MEMORIES
3. Kings, Germans, Belgians, Hutus, Tutsis, Twa
4. Micombero and the tragedy of 1972
5. Dictatorship and the first seeds of democracy 1977-93
6. The crisis begins
(1993): the killing of Ndadaye and the aftermath
7. 'Creeping coup' to Buyoya II, 1993-99
8. The peace talks at Arusha, 1998-2001
9. Buyoya, Ndayizeye and the elections of 2005
10. Rebels and extremists
11. Integrating the army: disarmament and demobilisation
12. Tales
of 'ethnicity'
13. The Twa: organising the most marginalised
MAKING PEACE
14. Peace comes to Kibimba
15. Action by Christians: peace education and trauma healing
16. Peacemaking on the ground
17. The media
18. Governance, human rights and justice
19. Poverty
and development: the economy as the key to peace?
20. International organisations
THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
21. The new regime, 2005-07
22. Is it peace?
Annexes
1. Bibliography
2. Who's Who
3. Glossary
4. Acronyms
5. Some useful websites
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Nigel Watt worked in Burundi for several years and was formerly Director of the Africa Centre in London.
Writing History - William Kelleher Storey and Towser Jones