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I have heard a lot about Arcade Habiyambere before I meet him. A former member of the FNL, he is the leader of CEDAC’s latest member organisation, AJIEC, representing most of the former FNL fighters Eric Uwimana told me about – those who were neither incorporated into the regular army, or demobilised receiving demobilisation packages.

Arcade joined the rebellion in 1997, when he was just 13. His father had been killed by Tutsis, and he feared the same fate. But he ended up committing atrocities of his own – killing people and burning homes. He saw friends killed, including in a disastrous attack on the airport when they attacked with 4,000 men and left with only 2,700. He was also wounded several times – he shows me the scar on his leg. Gradually he realised that it was the population who were suffering, and that the movement’s objectives no longer existed. As a result, the movement began to see the need for peace, and moved to join the peace.

For Arcade, however, this participation is seen as a failure. As the government pleaded limited means, only 3,500 soldiers were integrated into the army, and 5,000 demobilised; the unlucky, such as Arcade, received only a pair of sandals, their clothes, and 100,000 Francs – which wasn’t always paid. As he says himself: how could they return to their families like that – if they even had a family to return to. The money should have been divided fairly, he says, or not at all. This situation is exacerbated for those, like him, who began fighting as children; they have had no opportunity to gain education or skills (see that piece of Blattman research again!).

Arcade was motivated to act when he realised the treat this situation posed to peace, when he and other former comrades were approached by politicians and asked to destabilise their communities for political purposes. He refused, and formed AJIEC to advocate for better options for his members – including training, help in returning to school, and help in starting small businesses. Without this, he says – probably accurately – that the ranks of disillusioned, optionless former FNL, is a time bomb.

His organisation has existed for only two months, but has already acquired more than 11,000 members and some media exposure – the day before he talks to me Arcade was on Burundian Television talking about his organisation. Talking to him, there are some issues for concern – the complete lack of funding makes it difficult for him to do anything; even organising a football match is a financial strain, and even more worryingly, he talks about being an ‘adherent of the FNL’ in the present tense, before correcting himself! But the grounds for optimism are stronger; even someone with not even a bus fare to their name refused to destabilise his country’s future for money – and has found an awful lot of people who feel the same way and are prepared to do something about it – and taking action to improve their position while they do so. His association with CEDAC is still in its infancy – they signed an agreement at the same meeting where he talked to me – but Eric is clearly thrilled at the new partnership, and their model and organisation should be highly valuable in helping the members of AJIEC to access the training and opportunities that they need. And Arcade is ambitious; as we finish talking, he says that he hopes that his movement can be an inspiration to young people in other countries. Given Eric’s general modesty, AJIEC could be a good complement to his work.

Today I set up blogs for Pierre Claver and Eric from CEDAC, which you can visit here and here. The internet cut out before either of them could write a post (currently in internet cafe), but they both seemed pretty pleased with the pages we set up, and should be able to get blogging soon!

Translating some things into French to put on the CEDAC website, and for general local advocacy purposes, thought any Francophones might be interested to read it in their own language! Let me know if you spot any glaring errors!

Jean-Baptiste est content d’avouer son passé comme membre du FDD, un des groupes rebelles au Burundi. Il a passé quatre ans dans le maquis entre 1999 et 2003. Il a maintenant 26 ans, donc il avait 16 ans quand il avait  quitté son école secondaire à Kayanza et forcé de joindre la rébellion. Ses parents avaient été tués dans les massacres de 1993, et il avait déjà considéré joindre la rébellion, mais le reste de sa famille l’a toujours empêché. Et, peu a peu, ‘son esprit a changé’, et il a ‘trouvé le rythme’ de la vie rebelle, donc il n’a jamais essayé d’échapper. Néanmoins, il dit qu’une partie de son esprit a toujours dit ‘non’, et qu’il rêvait de la vie civile. Avec quelques amis proches  auxquels  il a discuté pour planifier la desertion,ils ont refusé sous le  risque d’être découvert, et il avait peur que, s’il avait retourné a la colline, les amis du mouvement pourraient lui menacer. Mais en 2003, quand il avait eu  l’opportunité de s’intégrer dans l’armée ou la démobilisation, il était heureux de démobiliser.

Pourtant, le retour à la vie civile n’était pas une panacée. Il a toujours senti  la haine, et, pensant qu’il n’avait rien  contribué, il n’avait pas de l’espoir. Il était vu partout comme rien plus d’autre  que d’ancien combattant. Dans le centre de démobilisation il a rencontrait beaucoup des gens de l’armée burundaise, et il a encore une amitié avec beaucoup de ces gens qui ont été  démobilisés au même temps de lui. Ils font les blagues sur l’ethnicité ensemble ; ils ont passés  beaucoup d’années  en conflit, crée par les politiciens.

Après avoir eu du contact avec CEDAC, il a réalisé qu’il avait la possibilité de faire autre chose  que de  détruire, et qu’il pourrait changer sa vie. Il a réalisé que le Burundi a besoin des  gens comme lui, qui ont détruit leur pays, et qui sont prêt de le reconstruire, et que ceux qui ont abusé les droits humaines dans la guerre ont une capacité unique à combattre les abus maintenant. Avec l’aide du CEDAC, il a commencé de réparer, ou faire réparations pour, le damage qu’il a causé pendant la guerre. Il est un membre intégral du comité du CEDAC, travaillant pour publiciser leur vision et faciliter leur travaille sur les groupes de soutien et les initiatives de micro finance. Il est aussi au cœur des campagnes  pour les élections paisibles, qui a le but de sensibiliser les anciens combattants de se commettre aux élections paisibles en 2010 et de donner un exemple positif aux autres avec leur détermination.

Même comme la réintégration n’a pas été facile; ce n’était pas automatique, mais Jean-Baptiste est maintenant un dirigeant de jeunesse proéminent dans sa communité, consulté sur plusieurs issues, et il travaille pour promoter la vision de CEDAC aux autres combattants, surtout ceux du FNL qui sont en train d’être démobilisés – ou qui étaient exclus de la démobilisation officielle.

En conformité avec la vision de CEDAC, Jean-Baptiste a pris son avenir et celui de son pays dans ses propres mains ; il est survivant du conflit avec une vision positive et l’énergie de l’implémenter.

Clairance Mpawenimana

The whole time I’m talking to Clairance Mpawenimana, I’m struggling not to cry. Not because of what she says, but because of what she’s not saying. She has been introduced to me as a survivor of Gender Based Violence, but although we talk at length about the war and her experiences during that period, GBV remains the elephant in the room; as we approach the subject, she looks away, and I can’t push her further.

Introducing herself, she tells me that she has just finished secondary school, and hopes to go to university next year to study humanities. She was only a child in 1993, but children remember things and the images return. She was living in Kinaba at the time, one of the most affected areas, and she remembers seeing people killed because of their ethnicity, something she didn’t understand at the time (this is common in Burundi; many survivors relate that the first time they knew their ethnicity was when they lost relatives in one of the various periods of massacres). Because there was war in the quartiers, they fled to the mountains, and when they were bombarded there, to Congo; you have to be pretty desperate for Congo to seem like a safe haven. Life there was difficult, but they survived, and, eventually, they were able to come home.

On their return, they found that the family was dispersed, with many dead. She felt wounded, angry and defeated, and was depressed about hers and the country’s future. However, through involvement with CEDAC, she was given six months of training by Search for Common Ground. This was vital in helping her heal her body and spirit, and helped her finally to forgive her former enemies. They were trained to promote unity and be a good example in their communities, something she has tried to do through her work with CEDAC,where she participates in peer support meetings and tries to spread CEDAC’s message in her wider community. Turning back to the war, she says that she still finds it hard to understand what happened, but says that the priority must be to ensure that they never return to that position. She says that the future will be better if all Burundians changed their ideas. She has high hopes for the elections in 2010; although there are obstacles, she feels that only a few have bad ambitions and she hopes that the majority will prevail. She hopes to be a part of changing these ideas, and in helping CEDAC’s work of using the forces use for destruction to rebuild her country.

Listening to Clairance share her story and her hopes for the future has been humbling. She is younger than me, but has faced more than I can imagine, and has picked herself up, and is now trying to help others in her community do the same. Talking to her, I desperately want to wave a magic wand and make this whole country better, but, unfortunately that isn’t an option. Instead, I hope that by empowering young people like Clairance to claim peace and rebuild their country, we can contribute to ensuring that no more young people have to go through these things – in this country at least.

Barnaby

Barnaby quickly grew to dislike army life; he talks of always being on patrol, of a constant lack of sleep, of being so tired that he slept while marching. As a result, when he was offered demobilisation in 2004 he took it. However, like many others, he struggled to adjust. During demobilisation he came into contact with people from the other forces, realising the pointlessness of it all but finding it easier to get on with these people who had had similar experiences to him. Involvement with CEDAC, which started when he was introduced to the organisation by some of his old comrades, has helped further. It has helped him to stay in contact with former fighters through training sessions and sport, and its vision of harnessing the energy of former soldiers to rebuild the country has, he says, inspired him. He is particularly keen to emphasise their work in promoting disarmament and the handing in of small arms, which he sees as vital to a lasting peace, and he works to spread that message in his neighbourhood.

Barnaby is clearly still delighted to be out of the army, and CEDAC has helped those in the colline* adjust to his return and welcome him back. However, he still has enormous problems. He is one of the less educated people I have spoken to (he does not speak French, so is speaking through Eric), and although he was trained as a driver and auto mechanic by CEDAC, he has not been able to find work, and his demobilisation package is long gone. Although he remains optimistic and prays for peace and better times to come, he faces a constant struggle to support his wife and two children. His story therefore demonstrates not only the progress this country has made, but also how far it has to go in terms of fighting poverty and promoting growth that can form the basis of a lasting peace.

That said, I want to end on a positive note. When I have finished interviewing him and Jean-Baptiste, these former adversaries leave arm-in-arm; reconciliation does seem to be working.

*unlike most places in Africa, Burundians do not traditionally live in villages, but in extended family units on a single hill, or colline.

In the last few days I’ve talked to a lot of people who were, in one way or another, affected by the war. Their stories are different and each is deeply affecting in its own way, but one thing I have been struck by is the loss of skills resulting from combat or displacement; many of the people I’ve spoken to have said that, when they returned from war or displacement, they found that they had missed out on years of education that others had had access to, or other skills training. This makes it very difficult to find work, an important way in which these people are vulnerable. Linked with this is the general disdain for the political class who, they say, stirred up ethnic hatred then left others to fight the war while they enriched themselves. This is somewhat unfair in the case of the current President, former leader of the FDD, but regarding many other politicians, many of whom have been members of several consecutive parties in order to ensure access to jobs and the perks of office, they have a point.

This problem is, however, far from unique to Burundi. While listening to all these stories, I have had in my head Vera Brittain‘s poem The Lament of the Demobilised (see bottom of page), in which she talks of the difficulties of returning to civilian life as a student at Oxford after working as a VAD in the First World War, and the resentment she feels to those who have “just got on” while they were away. To give an example closer in both time and space, in his work on child soldiers, mainly carried out in Northern Uganda, Chris Blattman (whose blog anyone interested in Africa should read) has shown that the single greatest long-term problem former child soldiers face results from missed years of education, training and work experience that put them at a disadvantage relative to their peers when it comes to finding employment. In a context where poverty is rife and jobs scarce this is a major problem; especially when guns are widely available, it can easily lead to banditry (which is widespread in Burundi).

This is why schemes to train former soldiers and give them access to land and microcredit schemes are particularly urgent, work such as is carried out by CEDAC for adult soldiers, and a centre for training former child soldiers, street children, orphans and otherwise vulnerable children that I visited the day before yesterday. Here children aged 14-18 are trained to become auto mechanics, furniture makers, IT specialists, hairdressers, plumbers, electricians, and various other trades, with a mixture of theoretical training and on-the-job experience. The Director tells me that many of the students go on to be employed in the businesses where they worked, and that over 80% of them find work. Eric, who is involved with the centre through CEDAC’s work with child soldiers, tells me that they have plans to expand nationwide, either by expanding in Bujumbura and building a boarding house, or by building centres around the country. Evidence that demobilising people, convincing them to hand over their guns, and sensitising them to reject violence isn’t enough; you also need to give them a choice.

IT class at Bujumbura Training Centre

Woodwork at Bujumbura Training Centre

Training Centre in Bujumbura

The Lament of the Demobilised

By Vera Brittain

‘Four years,’ some say consolingly. ‘Oh well,
What’s that ? You’re young. And then it must have been
A very fine experience for you !’
And they forget
How others stayed behind and just got on -
Got on the better since we were away.
And we came home and found
They had achieved, and men revered their names,
But never mentioned ours;
And no-one talked heroics now, and we
Must just go back and start again once more.
‘You threw four years into the melting-pot -
Did you indeed !’ these others cry. ‘Oh well,
The more fool you!’
And we’re beginning to agree with them.

Jean-Baptiste Simbo is gregarious, smiling and open. He is happy to admit his past as a member of the FDD, one of Burundi’s many rebel groups, for four years ‘dans le forêt’ (in the bush), between 1999 and 2003. He is 26 now, only one year older than me, meaning that he was 16 when he was abducted from his secondary school in Guyanza and forced to join the rebels. Asked why he didn’t try to escape, he tells me that his parents had been killed in 1993, and that he had thought about joining the rebellion ever since, but his family had always stopped him. And then, little by little ‘his spirit changed’ and he ‘found the rhythm’ of rebel life. But, he says, there was always a part of his spirit that said ‘no’, and he always longed for civilian life. With a few close friends he discussed leaving, but was never able to carry through his plan; there was always a risk, and he feared that should he return to the community the friends of the movement would turn against him. But in 2003, when he was given the choice of integrating into the army or demobilising, he jumped at the chance to demobilise.

Jean-Baptiste

However, returning to civilian life was not a panacea. The demobilisation centre helped to address hatred, as former rebels and members of the army passed through together, and he is on good terms with many of those who demobilised at the same time as him. They make jokes about ethnicity together; overcoming years of conflict that, he says, was stirred up by politicians. However, although he felt reconciled with his former enemies, he struggled to adjust to civilian life and did not regain his sense of self-worth until joining CEDAC, when he was inspired by Eric’s vision. He argues that the situation was caused by politicians – who, having stirred up the hatred that started the war, enriched themselves while others fought.

Through CEDAC, he realised that he could be more than just a destroyer, and could change his life. He realised that it was up to him and people like him – those who committed human rights abuses during the war – to work to prevent them now. Through this and other initiatives he saw the importance of working to help rebuild what he had helped destroy, seeing it in terms of making reparations for the damage he had done in the war. He is now a member of CEDAC’s organising committee, trying to reach out to other former rebels and encourage them to join the organisation, helping to organise peer support meetings, and training sessions, and helping coordinate CEDAC’s microfinance programme. He is also closely involved with the Peaceful Elections Campaign, which aims to sensitise former combatants to be committed to peaceful elections and give a positive example of this commitment. Although reintegration never went smoothly; as he points out, it “is not automatic”, he is now a prominent youth leader in his community, consulted on many issues, and works to promote CEDAC’s vision to other former combatants, especially those from the FNL who are only just demobilising.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Burundi was the vast array of NGOs and civil society organisations (CSOs to those in the know!) generally, and I have to admit that I was initially sceptical, fearing the ‘NGO circus’ with all the problems that brings – duplication and omission, failing to consider the real needs of the populations, internal brain drain, and so on. However, having spent longer in the country – albeit still only a fairly short time – my perspective is changing quickly. Meeting some of the dynamic Burundians I work with, and talking about the projects they work on, has brought me to the conclusion that much of Burundian civil society may be that elusive thing – a genuinely grass-roots structure that is doing hugely valuable work in promoting peace and reconciliation at a community level.

I have blogged before about the three organisations with which Survivor Corps works (AFJB, CEDAC, and THARS), their history, and the important work they do. However, as I have learnt more about the development of the conflict and the peace process in Burundi, I have become aware of the truly vital role that these and other organisations played in bringing the country to peace and ensuring that is (cross fingers) sticking (H/T Nigel Watt’s excellent book, about which I have already waxed lyrical). He describes in some detail the many organisations that have grown up at a community level to promote peace, healing, and integration.

The nature of the organisations that have done this work has varied, but perhaps the largest contingent has been religious, with religious groups forming to promote contact between ethnic groups, peer support, microfinance, mutual saving, and so on. Particularly active has been the Society of Friends (Quakers), of which David Niyonzima, the founder of THARS, is a prominent member. Many of these organisations have now broken off from their original founding church, a requirement to be registered as an NGO in Burundi, and allowing them to reach a greater constituency.

The work done by this ‘alphabet soup’ of organisations has included both ‘practical’ action such as building youth centres, providing for orphans, and organising inter-ethnic activities, as well as work also carried out by Survivor Corps’ partners such as providing vocational training, and promoting inter-ethnic income generating activities. However, perhaps even more important is the ‘mental’ aspect; promoting alternatives to violence, promoting reconciliation between ethnic groups, and helping people to discuss a shared future. CSOs, particularly religious organisations, have provided a vital service in this regard, in some cases simply by providing a space for interaction, in others by actively recruiting. Some of the most important have been the independent radio programmes, set up following recognition of the role played by Radio Mille Collines in promoting genocide in Rwanda, which aim to do the opposite, using talk shows, news, and soap operas to help people relate to their fellow Burundians and reject violence, also aiming to report accurate news and counter rumours – which, in the war years, often sparked massacres. In the course of these efforts to promote integration and equal opportunities for all, a number of organisations have also formed to try and promote the position of the Twa, and provide them with access to education and a decent footing in Burundian society for the first time.

All in all it has become clear that civil society in Burundi played an enormous part in bringing peace and is likely to be vital in promoting continuation of that peace and ethnic reconciliation in Burundi – as well as ‘traditional’ NGO motives such as promoting education, public health, and growth.

Those who follow football will know that the Confederations cup (the winner from each of the 6 regions, plus the world champions and the host, I think) is currently taking place in South Africa. Those of you who know me will know I have no interest in football, but Brian who I live with does, which means I’ve watched more football in the last month than in pretty much the last five years combined. However, it has given me an opportunity to ruminate on Pan-Africanism.

Those of you familiar with African history will be aware of the Pan-Africanist movement, and its incarnation in the Organisation of African Unity and its successor, the African Union. Watching the football here I have been struck by the way the entire city is gripped by South Africa’s and Egypt’s matches, feeling that those teams represent the entire continent. This is particularly striking in the case of Egypt; Westerners are not used to seeing Egypt as part of Africa, but Africans themselves certainly do – though with the caveat that when a Sub-Saharan team meets a North African team ‘they are black’ (if you’re interested, when a Francophone team plays an Anglophone team they are French-speaking, and when an East African team plays another African team they are East African. Burundi doesn’t often play anyone). However, even more impressive has been the pride that Burundians feel in the Confederations cup being held on African soil, and the prospect of the World Cup next year. They say that this is something they never dreamed they would see, and dream of travelling to South Africa to see it, hoping that its success will change the view of Africa in the eyes of the world. In other words, there is a strong sense of supporting South Africa in their endeavours, and hope of sharing in their success. Moreover, it is clear that this is not unique to Burundi; features on DSTV show fans across the continent expressing similar sentiments.

What I also find surprising is that I have taken so long to notice this, because it seems so natural – it’s something that I do myself as a very-slightly-African (though obviously only once England/GB have been knocked out!). But thinking about it, I wonder how widespread it is – it certainly doesn’t exist in Europe, and I can’t really see how it would work in Asia, which anyway seems too divided. There is certainly solidarity within subregions (see Eurovision Song Contest voting patterns, if nothing else!), but for such a feeling to exist across as continent of 53 countries seems unique – can anyone with knowledge of other parts of the world (Latin America, Oceania?) give any further insight? It suggests to me that a type of African solidarity persists that is unusual, if not unique, across the world.

This has caused problems in the past, with leaders unwilling to criticise each other and banding together against criticism of their own by outsiders. However, it may have contributed to the relative lack of interstate wars in Africa (although they have made up for it in intrastate wars), and Africans are generally prepared to learn from each other, and see themselves as sufficiently similar for it to be worth doing so. When I make comparisons between Burundi and some of the other countries I have knowledge of, they are not rejected as they might be in other parts of the world, and when I talk about the importance of the peaceful elections campaign (on which more later), my colleagues reply not only in terms of its importance for Burundi, but also their hopes that if successful it could be a model for the rest of the continent. It is, therefore, also a strength, and I hope that in this blog I will be able to place Burundi in its African context, not only in terms of the ‘bad neighbourhood’ problems that it brings, but also in terms of the positive intellectual trends.

Talking to Eric Uwimana

Eric Uwimana

Eric is strongly critical of the reintegration of the army, saying that although there were 21,000 members of the FNL, only 3,500 were integrated into the national army – and only 5,000 have been through official demobilisation processes, meaning that there are another 12,500 running around with guns and no means of making money. Not a comforting thought; Eric confirms that many of them have become bandits. He also tells me that relations in the newly-integrated army are poor, with soldiers who were former members of the other factions accusing him of not working, and is resentful of his loss in status from Commander to Sergeant-Major. Eric also displays the heightened masculinity common among soldiers; he seems almost boastful when talking about his past, and when Eric (Niragira, director of CEDAC) asks us to pose for a photo, he tries to feel me up. Considering his rebel past and army present, I decide against punching him in the face.

At this point in the interview, I was not optimistic. However, when we began to talk about CEDAC, my view changed. Eric talks about how group meetings with members of the other factions, organised through CEDAC, have helped him to open up and talk about his past. He is still in contact by phone with some of the other people he met through these sessions, and expresses a strong commitment to CEDAC’s vision of a peaceful Burundi, with former soldiers integrated and setting the example for peace. Growing sober, he says that war makes you do things that you would never otherwise do because they seem normal, and that talking to fellow members of CEDAC helped him see the damage done to those who did nothing – the civilians. Asked if he would do the same again, he is adamant that he would not; indeed, he is keen to leave the army and is searching for other opportunities. Finally, he expresses his hope that no other rebel group with emerge now that the FNL has laid down arms, and emphasises the importance of talking about what they did so that Burundi will not go to war again.

Talking to Eric was fascinating; in many respects he embodies the problems faced by Burundi; young, radicalised, accustomed to violence, and embodying the aggressive masculinity that is so dangerous. However, the sentiments that he expresses once he stops trying to show off are encouraging, and suggest that he is genuinely committed to peace. In many ways, he therefore demonstrates the success that CEDAC can have in reconciling even those who were genuinely committed rebels, with high positions, and the importance of the peer support model in achieving this.

*Francophones: I am unsure how best to translate this? Harassed? Any thoughts?