The breeze was blowing off of Lake Tanganyika, and I was enjoying the evening with a friend at the Hotel Club Du Lac. We were enjoying a cold drink and good conversation when it occurred to me that the beachfront was filled with foreigners enjoying the beach at sunset. It was July 1, and the beach was teeming with laughter, BBQs, and a game of volleyball. This is something we have not witnessed in Burundi for more than 15 years, and it was almost like a dream as I watched the good humor and celebration around me.
This past July 1, we celebrated the 46th anniversary of our independence from Belgium. We celebrate our Independence Day every year, but not every year has been cause for cheering, parades, and national pride. As a matter of fact, the past 15 years have been painful for Burundians, and the holiday seemed to be a reminder of what had gone miserably wrong with our country in the wake of colonialism. Back in 1992 our government, after much pressure from Western nations to quickly implement democracy, introduced a multiparty political system. The following year elections were held and the people elected a president. This was the first time a Hutu would be the president of Burundi, reflecting the majority of the population of the country. You can imagine the celebration! However, the joy was short-lived. Four months after taking office, our president was killed in a coup d'etat. This plunged the country into a bloody civil war that has lasted for 15 years.
During these dark years, we have had more to fear than to celebrate. No less than five armed rebel groups were formed. They roved the country, creating havoc for rural residents and city dwellers alike. It is estimated that more than half a million people were killed in a long series of skirmishes and outright hostilities. Two million more Burundians fled the country altogether, seeking refuge in neighboring countries from the turmoil in their homeland. But a refugee camp is little solace; it is not home. You are not really living so much as waiting -- waiting for the day you can return to your farm, your community, your family.
So this year when July 1 came, there was actually reason to celebrate. For the first time we could boast that all the rebel groups have disarmed and integrated into the army, that there will be no fighting on the eve of our Independence Day.
The final group just began their integration process last month, so this is a fragile time as negotiations and political maneuvering continue. Many of the refugees are returning home to Burundi. Our second democratically elected president is in office and is still alive! For the first time in 15 years we have reason to hope, reason to believe that peace is about to break on the shore of our country. This may just well mark the end of the civil strife that has plagued Burundi for so many years. Our season of war might be over at long last.
This season I would like to invite our African and Western friends to reconsider Burundi, to begin to think of my country as a peaceful and beautiful nation on the mend. We need our friends more than ever, as we still have many challenges ahead of us. Poverty, disease, delayed economic development, and poor infrastructure are all reminders of the past we are emerging from. We have farms that need to work again, a government that needs to learn to function again, and a crippling national debt that we need to address immediately for the health of our country. Burundi needs friends, investors, advocates around the globe, and, most importantly, we need your prayers and presence.
Celebrate with us -- a new day is dawning in Burundi!
Claude Nikondeha is the director of amahoro-africa.org, and divides his time between Surprise, Arizona, and Bujumbura, Burundi
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