Washington, D.C. — For Agnes Nindorera, the Burundi peace accord reached in Arusha, Tanzania this past August, is not likely to bring peace. "The main militias were not there and did not sign it. There is more fighting now than before."
The 38-year-old Nindorera, was here Monday to receive a Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation. She reports from her country's capital Bujumbura for Agence France Presse and VOA. Radio leads Burundi's media and Nindorera also does broadcast reports for Studio Ijambo, a station set up by the U.S. group, Search For Common Ground, to provide ethnically unbiassed news coverage.
Resisting threats and intimidation have become a regular part of her beat.Two years ago she was arrested by a provincial governor because she entered his province to investigate a massacre. There have been other arrests. She has been beaten by a soldier with the butt of a rifle. Last year she took a military officer who threatened her to court. The civilian court would not hear the case; but, says Nindorera, "bringing him to court was just to say I am going to stand up for my rights and that freedom of the press has to be respected. I could do nothing else."
When asked if Studio Ijambo where the dozen staff members are divided equally between Tutsi and Hutu, symbolizes an ideal for Burundi's future she replies sharply, "International organizations only know Hutus and Tutsis and ignore other people. Even the Arusha agreement excludes others in the power-sharing." Nindorera herself is a member of a "minority group," called Baganwa - "the descendants of the different kings who ruled Burundi before the white people came," she says.
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Burundi is far more complicated than just a Hutu-Tutsi conflict, according to Nindorera. "In Burundi, a minority has power." After the election of Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, as president in 1993 - often cited as the coutnry's first democratic election, "Hutu and Tutsi were about to unite," she says. Then Ndadaye was assassinated in a coup attempt. His successor, Cyprien Ntaryamira, died in a 1994 plane crash along with the president of Rwanda.
Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi military officer then took over in a bloodless coup. But behind these deaths and the ensuing chaos in Burundi, Nindorera claims, is the small Bahima clan in the South, manipulating both Tutsi and Hutu for their own ends. "They are the most powerful now."
Whatever they might think of that view, few observers would disagree that Burundi is more complex than the simple portrayals of tribal conflict suggest.
Nor is there disagreement that the conflict between Hutu militias and the Tutsi army has had devastating effects. Nindorera herself has lost 60 relatives to the violence. Her family home has been destroyed. "This conflict is stupid," she says, "really stupid."
For more information click on the following links
International Women's Media Foundation: Courage Awards
Background on Studio Ijambo: Burundi's first independent radio station
