Burundi: 2015 As a Repeat of 1965 in Burundi - the Stubbornness of Political History

8 January 2016
opinion

If 1965 consists of the first time in recorded history of contemporary Burundi that people lost their lives simply because of who they were 'ethnically' considered to be, 2015 is yet another moment in the post-colonial history of Burundi that people are losing their lives simply because of who they are 'politically' considered to be.

In the run-up to independence in 1962, Burundi held national elections in September 1961 contested between two rival groups of traditional princes (Ganwa): the Bezi, represented by the Union pour le Progrès National (UPRONA) party, and the Batare, represented by the Parti Démocrate Chrétien (PDC) party. The then popular and pro-independence king's son, Prince Louis Rwagasore, whose UPRONA [Union for National Progress] had just won the elections in preparation for independence, became the de facto independence leader thanks to a triumphant victory gaining 58 of the 64 seats. The Belgian colonial administration, in a move to oppose UPRONA, had supported PDC [Christian Democrat Party]. Peter Uvin, a no less important scholarly voice in the political history of contemporary African Great Lakes region, noted that the multi-ethnic dimension of UPRONA was conspicuous in the outcomes of these elections: of its members elected, "25 were Tutsi, 22 Hutu, 7 Ganwa and 4 of mixed parentage."

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