Burundi: Belgium bears a great responsibility in the cyclical crises which mourned Burundi until the genocide in the finalization phase.
Burundi was deprived of its sovereignty for 66 years, 20 years under German colonization (1896-1916) and 46 years under the Belgian guardian power (1916-1962). This is a long period under the physical violence of the colonizer, a means used to establish his legitimacy. Inhumane acts of violation of human rights such as snagging, deportation, forced labour, discrimination, distortion of socio-cultural values, taxes, etc. characterize all colonization
We are interested today in the Belgian colonization because, not only that it lasted a long time, but also that Belgium received a guardianship mandate from the League of Nations in 1921. What is more striking for the Burundians; it is their “Divide and rule” policy which has led to the ethnicization of Burundian society. This is where all the socio-political crises that the country has known and continues to experience to this day take root.
It is therefore very difficult to quantify the damage caused by Belgian colonization to the Burundian people. In a report drawn up by the Burundian senate on July 31, 2020 at the end of a two-day retreat in Gitega, Belgian colonization results in “the ethnicization of Burundian society”, “inter-community hatred”, social crises. -policies which have “engendered crimes, exile and underdevelopment”, the exclusion of Hutus “in all sectors of the country”, the pauperization of the population. And it is not Reverien Ndikuriyo, former president of the Burundian senate who chaired the meeting, who is unaware that the hatred that the Hutu extremists of the cnddfdd like him have towards the Tutsi comes from this exclusion of the Hutus from the administration by the Belgians; the latter upset the existing system in which everyone assumed their responsibility in total harmony and excluded the Hutus, accusing them of notorious incapacity. It was not out of love for the Tutsis; but just a pretext to create divisions between the two. But why Ndikuriyo and his extremist friends continue to sow the same divisions among Burundians? Why are they still trying to exterminate the Tutsi when they know the root of the problem? How to explain that after so many years of independence, the Burundians are not able to banish this kind of divisions? How does a regime like that of the cnddfdd behave more than the Belgian colonist by sowing ethnic hatred within the Burundian population, at a time when it never ceases to criticize the colonists? This shows that the problem is not fundamentally ethnic, it is political. It is also ethnic, since that time of colonization, Hutu extremists have always sought to kill Tutsis. A small group of politicians still seek to lean on ethnic divisions to pass themselves off as heroes of the Hutus in order to maintain their position because they know that the Hutus, being in the majority, they will always elect them. However, the common people continue to languish in poverty, with a standard of living that is deteriorating day by day. The May 2020 elections showed the ruling cnddfdd that the people are starting to demystify this colon ’divide and rule policy of the new settler cnddfdd’
Come back on topic. During this retreat, Ndikuriyo Reverien’s team could not quantify the damage caused by Belgian colonization. Maybe a committee will look into it in the future. In any case, it will be difficult to assess all the material and immaterial damage caused in Burundi by Belgian colonization. Do not forget the handing over of archives on Burundi, the issue of the Bugufi region attached to Tanzania without Burundi benefiting from the operation of the Belbases (ports of Dar es Salaam and Kigoma) as provided for in the Orts – Milner convention.
As did on June 30, 2020, on the eve of the 60 years of independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, King Philippe, sovereign of the Belgians who presented for the first time in the history of the country “his most profound regrets for the wounds ”inflicted during the Belgian colonial period in the Congo, Belgium should also apologize to Burundi because Belgian colonization has left Burundian society with a wound which has not healed until today: divisions ethnicities, political exclusion. It gets deeper and deeper not against.
Belgium seems to have a say in Burundi at the international level, including the United Nations Security Council. When the ethnic divisions, the political violence reach the point, Belgium turns a blind eye, this “international community” seems absent, no decision going in the direction of rescuing the Burundians crushed by a military clique of criminals is taken. Perhaps these ’’ World leaders ’’ have an interest in the Burundians tearing each other apart and Burundi becoming a powder keg.
Despite the multiple human rights violations observed in Burundi, the countries of the European Union are considering resuming cooperation with Burundi. Belgium is one of them. Is this how she intends to repair the damage done to Burundi during its colonial period? Does Belgium once again want to support a regime which has made ethnic and political divisions its mode of government and which today plans to end all Tutsis in Burundi and all political opponents?
URN HITAMWONEZA believes that if Belgium really wanted to be reconciled with the Burundian people who are still suffering from the after-effects of their colonization, it should not only recognize its faults and officially ask for forgiveness; prepare to repair material and immaterial damage; but also to do everything in its power so that the Burundian people are spared the large-scale genocide for which the military clique in power is finalizing the preparations. WhatsApp contact: +31685638237 Email: [email protected] Twitter: URN HITAMWONEZA
