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5 Facts about the Burundi Refugee Crisis

5 Facts about the Burundi Refugee CrisisBurundi is a country in East-Central Africa with a population of about 12.2 million. Trying to escape violence in their home country, thousands of Burundians have fled and become refugees. These people seek shelter in several different countries, and as of October 2020, there are more than 150,000 Burundian refugees in Tanzania, according to Human Rights Watch. The Burundi refugee crisis comes with heartbreaking tragedies. Sadly, Burundian refugees face many obstacles for protection and are often forced to return to Burundi against their will.

Here are five facts about the Burundi refugee crisis.

  1. The Burundi refugee crisis began in 2015. After serving two terms, Burundi’s former president, Pierre Nkurunziza, was expected to step down. When Nkrurnziza refused to do so, civilian protests began and lasted for months. The military responded with violence and targeted civilian killings. Unrest and state-sanctioned human rights violations caused hundreds of thousands of Burundi citizens to seek refuge in surrounding areas. The conflict has killed more than 1,700 people since 2015.
  2. The U.N. Refugee Agency reports that the conflict resulted in more than 333,700 Burundi refugees seeking safety and shelter in other countries. Many of the camps are unable to provide adequate shelter, health services or education. Moreover, many Burundi refugees feel as if the population has nowhere to go.
  3. Tanzania, a country that took in a significant portion of Burundi’s refugees, is no longer a place of refuge. Since 2019, Tanzanian authorities have abused Burundian refugees. They have also forced many refugees to return to Burundi. More than 150,000 Burundians reside in Tanzania, and the Burundians are at risk of suffering the same violations that the population fled from.
  4. Some Burundians feel safe returning to the country following the death of Nkurunziza. Rwanda, in particular, working with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, has a program for the repatriation of Burundian refugees. Nearly 1,500 refugees have registered for the program. While many Burundians are excited to return home, a significant portion does not feel safe returning. The political stability of Burundi is still uncertain, especially with Nkurunziza’s passing being so recent.
  5. Often referred to as the “forgotten” refugee crisis, the Burundi refugee crisis is the lowest funded global situation. In 2020, the cause received only 40% of the funds required to offer protection to the refugees. Even as Burundians are beginning to return home, there is still a significant population of vulnerable Burundi refugees who need assistance.

The 2021 Burundi Refugee Response Plan will ensure that Burundi refugees will be safe wherever they choose to reside. The plan advocates for more education and vocational training and incorporates Burundi refugees into local livelihood activities. It also ensures that basic needs, including health services, food and shelter are met in refugee camps.

– Samantha Silveira
Photo: Flickr

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Presidential Election in Burundi Amid COVID-19

Election in BurundiAmid a global pandemic, Burundi is on the brink of its first democratic transfer of power in its 58 years of independence. The country’s Constitutional Court will announce the official winner of the May 20 election on June 4, but the Burundi election commission has already declared Evariste Ndayishimiye, the candidate of the governing party, the winner. The commission has declared that Ndayishimiye won 68.72% of the votes cast, while his main opponent, Agathon Rwasa, gathered 24.19%.

The historic May 20 vote for president engaged 87.7% of registered voters, who cast their ballots after the campaigns of seven presidential hopefuls. This high turnout is momentous considering the low road density in the landlocked country. Inaccessible roads make traveling to polling places difficult, with the poor state of infrastructure in the country making travel even more costly. Such costs may be difficult for Burundians to grapple with, given the country’s near total dependence on coffee subsistence farming, the production of which has declined in recent years.

Campaign Controversy

Leading up to the election in Burundi, the 2020 presidential campaigns were not without controversy. According to Human Rights Watch, the preceding year included more than 60 political killings and 200 arrests of perceived political opponents. Rwasa, a longtime leader of a Burundian rebel group and a candidate in the 2015 presidential race against the incumbent, called for profound change throughout the election. The spokesman for Rwasa’s party publicized the National Freedom Council’s boycott of the Burundi election commission’s announcement on the grounds of fraud and violence as the basis of Ndayishimiye’s win.

In addition to political controversy, the election in Burundi faced criticism for its call for in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Days after the election, Burundi only had 42 cases of COVID-19, reporting just one death and 20 recoveries among these. However, the number of cases in the country doubled between May 17 and May 21, indicating that the election could have played a role in this increase.

Throughout the pandemic, Burundi has avoided imposing stringent restrictions in favor of advising its citizens to practice handwashing and to avoid mass gatherings, with the exception of campaign rallies. These rallies were one of the main platforms for information dissemination about candidates, as less than 2% of the country’s population has electricity in their homes, causing many Burundians to attend. The government’s one heavy-handed rule was imposed on foreign election observers, who were to be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival in the country, a possible tactic to dissuade observers from attending the election in Burundi at all.

Violence Before the Vote

The election in 2020 comes on the heels of the tumultuous 2015 election in Burundi. President Pierre Nkurunziza’s third-term bid violated the Constitution of Burundi’s two-term limit, provoking riots that culminated in a thwarted coup attempt. This insurgency prompted a violent suppression of the Burundian people and Nkurunziza’s political opponents. In the five years since the election, increasing violence in Burundi has led to the deaths of at least 1,200 people and the emigration of tens of thousands. This turmoil forced financial supporters of the country to cut political and financial ties, further entrenching it as one of the poorest countries in the world.

Economic isolation has put extreme financial stress on the government of Burundi, a burden that the government has imposed on its citizenry in recent years. Beginning in 2017, the government began demanding “contributions,” which it employed in part to fund the 2020 election. This contribution system was officially ended in 2019, but independent groups like the Imbonerakure youth militia have since demanded tributes in its place, exploiting even the seven out of 10 Burundians who live below the poverty line.

These human rights and economic abuses ratcheted up the pressure and significance of the 2020 presidential election, yielding a huge voter turnout in support of reform.

A New Face

While the declared winner Ndayishimiye is the candidate of the ruling party that backed Nkurunziza in his violent and lengthy reign, many Burundians showed up to the polls in support of political change. The people are participating politically to end the violence that has gripped Burundi throughout its occupation by Belgium, which ended in 1962, and the ensuing battles between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. After the first democratic election in Burundi in 1993, the Hutu president was assassinated by a Tutsi-led group of political opponents and traitorous cabinet members.

Burundi has yet to maintain peace after a transfer of power. The country is looking to the results of this election to usher in a peaceful and democratic transition between presidents. Whether Ndayishimiye rules independently or under the influence of Nkurunziza, who has been declared the “supreme guide for patriotism” by the Parliament of Burundi, the Burundian people will be turning to their new government for leadership. In practical terms, this leadership could implement an electrification plan to bring electricity to more Burundian homes and a plan to diversify the economy away from subsistence coffee farming. Voters in the 2020 election in Burundi are seeking an end to forced contributions, insight into governmental spending, a window for economic growth and peace as Burundi moves through the pandemic and into the future.

– Annie Iezzi
Photo: Flickr

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Burundi’s Political Turmoil Worsens

Burundi's Political Turmoil Worsens
Burundi has not experienced much of a stable political climate so far this century. After ending a 12 year civil war in 2005, security and political freedom are far from certain.

It took until 2009 for the last rebel group — Forces for National Liberation, or FNL, — to give up arms. Then in 2010, President Pierre Nkurunziza was reelected amidst suspected electoral fraud. Political killings plagued this election as rights groups estimate 300 people were killed. Political freedom was further stymied by a law passed in 2013 that made criticism of the government threats to national security or public order, punishable under the law.

Burundi’s shaky past have many worried that the upcoming elections in May 2015 will be unfair and turn violent.

The increasing intensity at which the government has been trying to silence the opposition is also another concern. In recent months, politically motivated violent attacks by the youth wing of the ruling party — Imbonerakure — against perceived opposition has risen.

In May, the prominent human rights activist Pierre Claver Mbonimpa was arrested. Mbonimpa founded the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons. He has worked for years defending the rights of the most vulnerable Burundians.

His arrest sparked protests, and although they have been peaceful, the government has not backed down. Earlier this summer, they banned protests in support of Mbonimpa.

Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonovic, has said that “special attention must be paid to the full respect for freedom of expression, including for journalists and human rights defenders.”

Deep-rooted disagreements between the government and the opposition, coupled with increasing restrictions on freedom of press and no accountability for the atrocities of the previous election, all point to a troubled 2015 election.

Some in the international community are calling for the situation in Burundi to be seriously monitored over the next few months in order prevent the situation from deteriorating and leading to violent elections in 2015.

The best action at this stage would be for Burundi’s donors and development partners, like France, Belgium and the U.K. to warn the government that human rights and free elections need to be honored.

– Eleni Marino

Sources: BBC, UN News Centre, Human Rights Watch, The Guardian, Bloomberg
Photo: Human Rights Watch