Land is a scarce resource in Burundi, which, together with its neighbor Rwanda is one of the smallest and most densely populated countries in Africa. In a country, where more than 90% of the population live from agriculture, access to land is a synonym for life and death. During my first stay in Burundi, I witnessed the potential explosive nature of land conflicts first hand.
It was a usual beautiful, sunny morning in Bujumbura. One of my Burundian friends took me for a drive to show me the Northern neighborhoods of Bujumbura. We had already discovered the Southern neighborhoods a few days earlier. We would drive around and my friend would talk about the history of the different neighborhoods during the different crises that have hit Burundi since it gained independence in 1962.
But before starting our tour, we stopped at the second Alexestel (the sister hotel of the accommodation that I was staying in at the time). The second hotel is located in the neighborhood Nyakabiga right by the beautiful newly constructed white-blue mosque. While enjoying a drink, my Burundian friend started talking to the barman in Kirundi. The conversation appeared pretty serious.
My Burundian friend would explain to me later that they were talking about a conflict in the nearby neighborhood Ndagara, a predominantly Batutsi neighborhood. A man belonging to the Batutsi, who had bought a house in 1972 was asked by the Commission nationale pour la terre et les biens (CNTB) to leave his house and to give his property back to the relatives of the original owner, belonging to the Bahutu, that had been killed during the 1972 crisis and whose family had been spoiled of their properties. Mr. Nyakabeto, who had lived in this house for over forty years, was an employee of the Banque Nationale de Développement Economique (BNDE) in 1972. He affirms that the house was advertised by the BNDE at the time and he applied for a credit to be able to buy the house.
I would find out later that while Mr. Nyakabeto affirms that his documents are in order, critics argue that he illegally ‘acquired’ the property during a moment of crisis or should have been wary of how the BNDE acquired the property in the first place. Many of the local youth from Ndagara mobilized in support of Mr. Nyakebato and tried to keep the police from entering and vacating the property.
After my friend told me about this story, we started our drive towards the Northern neighborhoods. All of the sudden, we saw a roadblock. The police had blocked the road towards a house and we could see many people gathering in front of the house. My friend explained to me that this was the property he has been talking about. He told me that this is how it can all start again. And this is when I truly realized that Burundi remains a very fragile country.
As we continued driving, my friend would stop every few minutes to ask people about an update about the situation. By now, more and more youth had mobilized and the police had sent around 50 policemen to try to storm the property. But the youth continued to block the entry to the house and some of them had even taken up stones to keep the police from entering.
I would read a few hours later that the police eventually stormed the house by force, vacated the property and arrested 20 of the youth. What would become known as the Nyakabeto affair, would lead to very heated discussions about the practice of the police and the CNBT in the Burundian public and media. As a small and very densely populated country, the ownership of land is a very impassioned subject for Burundians, 90% of which live from agriculture. The ownership of land is very important and defines the way of life. Over 90% of cases discussed in the Courts and Tribunals are concerning land issues.
While most people acknowledge that the properties have to be returned to their original owners, as stipulated in the Arusha Peace Accords, they also criticize the strong police reaction and underline the importance of recognizing the difficulties for the owners asked to hand over their properties after decades of owning it. The debate therefore heated up about the decision-making procedures of the CNBT, which is more and more perceived as not being impartial and even as taking revenge for the past Batutsi dominated authoritarian regimes in favor of the Bahutu population that have been oppressed for so long.
As outlined in the Arusha Peace Accords, the work of the CNBT has been recognized as an integral part towards reconciliation, but the major challenge consists of confirming the CNBT as an impartial institution. The Arusha Accords had therefore stipulated the creation of a compensation fund to help implement the CNBT decisions and to assist families such as in the case of the Nyakebeto affair. But unfortunately, this fund has never been created. While the CNBT reassesses land and private goods ownership, the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms (be it in the form of a tribunal or a truth and reconciliation commission) to recognize the victims and the crimes committed against them during the different political crises has stalled.
The discussions on the Nyakabeto affair in the Burundian media eventually culminated in the decision of the Conseil national de la communication (CNC) to suspend the forum of the Iwacu newspaper website. The CNC felt that the comments on the Iwacu forum contained derogatory comments that are not acceptable in the pursuit of reconciliation. The suspension of the Iwacu forum occurred right at the time when the President signed a very controversial media law that restricts reporting and weakens the protection of sources.
It was a usual beautiful, sunny morning in Bujumbura. One of my Burundian friends took me for a drive to show me the Northern neighborhoods of Bujumbura. We had already discovered the Southern neighborhoods a few days earlier. We would drive around and my friend would talk about the history of the different neighborhoods during the different crises that have hit Burundi since it gained independence in 1962.
But before starting our tour, we stopped at the second Alexestel (the sister hotel of the accommodation that I was staying in at the time). The second hotel is located in the neighborhood Nyakabiga right by the beautiful newly constructed white-blue mosque. While enjoying a drink, my Burundian friend started talking to the barman in Kirundi. The conversation appeared pretty serious.
My Burundian friend would explain to me later that they were talking about a conflict in the nearby neighborhood Ndagara, a predominantly Batutsi neighborhood. A man belonging to the Batutsi, who had bought a house in 1972 was asked by the Commission nationale pour la terre et les biens (CNTB) to leave his house and to give his property back to the relatives of the original owner, belonging to the Bahutu, that had been killed during the 1972 crisis and whose family had been spoiled of their properties. Mr. Nyakabeto, who had lived in this house for over forty years, was an employee of the Banque Nationale de Développement Economique (BNDE) in 1972. He affirms that the house was advertised by the BNDE at the time and he applied for a credit to be able to buy the house.
I would find out later that while Mr. Nyakabeto affirms that his documents are in order, critics argue that he illegally ‘acquired’ the property during a moment of crisis or should have been wary of how the BNDE acquired the property in the first place. Many of the local youth from Ndagara mobilized in support of Mr. Nyakebato and tried to keep the police from entering and vacating the property.
After my friend told me about this story, we started our drive towards the Northern neighborhoods. All of the sudden, we saw a roadblock. The police had blocked the road towards a house and we could see many people gathering in front of the house. My friend explained to me that this was the property he has been talking about. He told me that this is how it can all start again. And this is when I truly realized that Burundi remains a very fragile country.
As we continued driving, my friend would stop every few minutes to ask people about an update about the situation. By now, more and more youth had mobilized and the police had sent around 50 policemen to try to storm the property. But the youth continued to block the entry to the house and some of them had even taken up stones to keep the police from entering.
I would read a few hours later that the police eventually stormed the house by force, vacated the property and arrested 20 of the youth. What would become known as the Nyakabeto affair, would lead to very heated discussions about the practice of the police and the CNBT in the Burundian public and media. As a small and very densely populated country, the ownership of land is a very impassioned subject for Burundians, 90% of which live from agriculture. The ownership of land is very important and defines the way of life. Over 90% of cases discussed in the Courts and Tribunals are concerning land issues.
While most people acknowledge that the properties have to be returned to their original owners, as stipulated in the Arusha Peace Accords, they also criticize the strong police reaction and underline the importance of recognizing the difficulties for the owners asked to hand over their properties after decades of owning it. The debate therefore heated up about the decision-making procedures of the CNBT, which is more and more perceived as not being impartial and even as taking revenge for the past Batutsi dominated authoritarian regimes in favor of the Bahutu population that have been oppressed for so long.
As outlined in the Arusha Peace Accords, the work of the CNBT has been recognized as an integral part towards reconciliation, but the major challenge consists of confirming the CNBT as an impartial institution. The Arusha Accords had therefore stipulated the creation of a compensation fund to help implement the CNBT decisions and to assist families such as in the case of the Nyakebeto affair. But unfortunately, this fund has never been created. While the CNBT reassesses land and private goods ownership, the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms (be it in the form of a tribunal or a truth and reconciliation commission) to recognize the victims and the crimes committed against them during the different political crises has stalled.
The discussions on the Nyakabeto affair in the Burundian media eventually culminated in the decision of the Conseil national de la communication (CNC) to suspend the forum of the Iwacu newspaper website. The CNC felt that the comments on the Iwacu forum contained derogatory comments that are not acceptable in the pursuit of reconciliation. The suspension of the Iwacu forum occurred right at the time when the President signed a very controversial media law that restricts reporting and weakens the protection of sources.
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