Civil society needs greater support: Preliminary report of an international mission of enquiry by the FIDH

5/01/1999

An FIDH delegation, composed of Khémais Chammari from Tunisia and Stéphane Hessel from France went on a mission to Burundi from the 28th of August to the 5th of September, 1998, to carry out an observation of the human rights situation and the involvement of civil society in the peace process.

Since this mission took place, the tragic incidents in the neighbouring countries of Burundi and on its borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where again people have been calling for genocide, have unfortunately made the two current sets of negotiation in Burundi more difficult. At the national level, they have been punctuated by small, but positive steps forward over the last few months. At the regional level, the negotiations in Arusha have reached deadlock as a result of the procrastination by the partners of the region.

The misery is increasing. The first observations of the FIDH mission were related to the ongoing human rights violations in the country, a situation which gives great cause for concern, as well as the deterioration of the situation in Burundi as a whole. The country's economy has been dealt a serious blow by the atrocious unending conflict between the armed forces and the opposition which has now staged a rebellion and by the embargo imposed by the neighbouring countries two years ago following the coming to power of Major Buyoya. Urgent calls have been made to the international community to obtain a lifting of the embargo and bring substantial aid to the country to underpin its development in trade, industry and agriculture and to help consolidate the institutions as state governed by the rule of law. The international community is under an obligation to help restore the judicial system to put an end to the impunity which is undermining Burundese society and it must make every effort to support initiatives aimed at restoring security at the same time as pressing for ceasefire. Key activists on the sidelines. The second observation made by the mission is the involvement of a growing number of activists in civil society in the peace process, notably the ITEKA league, an affiliate of the FIDH, working for the defence and promotion of human rights, but also a large number of women's and youth organisations, local development organisations, prisoners aid organisations as well as journalists' and jurists' associations who in their overwhelming majority are determined to overcome the ethnic division, to bring a joint solution to the security problems and prevention of genocide and work together towards the establishment of a productive society at peace with itself.

In this context, it is also urgent to secure that these activists, still not sufficiently united in their interventions and too much concentrated in the capital of Bujumbura, can strengthen their influence accross all regions, work in the different parts of the city, but also in refugee and displaced camps, where the misery is at its worst, and make joint efforts with churches and organisations of Bashingantahe which carry an ancestral tradition of conciliation in the mountains and hills.

Time to overcome the reluctance. The international community should not hesitate to support and work together with these NGOs whose engagement in the peace process is more necessary than ever. It is time to overcome the reluctance to support them which has held bilateral and multilateral donors back for a number of years. At this price, we must avoid Burundi once again falling prey to the upheaval in the region.