Burundi: Dangerous demobilisation gaps

BUJUMBURA, 29 April 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people associated with a former rebel group in Burundi could threaten the country's new-found peace because they have been excluded from a demobilisation and army integration programme on the grounds they were not actual combatants, according to analysts.

Agathon Rwasa, leader of Burundi's Forces Nationals de Libération (FNL), recently handed in his weapons and uniforms to formally start the programme.

In the run-up to demobilisation, Rwasa claimed there were 21,000 fighters in the FNL. But only around 8,500 have been officially recognised, with 3,800 set to join the police or regular army and 5,000 to be provided with demobilisation packages to ease their return to civilian life.

This leaves more than 10,000 people considered FNL "associates" excluded from any form of compensation or assistance. Another concern is that only 722 weapons have been handed in to the authorities.

"If there was a project to accompany their departure, certainly they would not be so angry," Antoine Kantiza, a political analyst in Bujumbura, said.

"The FNL supporters may have hidden a set of arms that can be used to distort order and tranquility," he added, calling for bank loans or cooperatives run by the FNL members to "humanise and socialise" them.

Even those included in the programme are unhappy with the 100,000 Burundi Francs (US$80) allowance.

"We may turn into ?Kamikazes' like those in Iraq," said one ex-combatant who was sent home from Rukoko in Gihanga commune, western Bubanza Province assembly zone.

Others said they had not even received the allowance. "I have no ticket to go back home; we are told we will only be given BFr100,000 in June," another FNL member said.

Abuse of process

Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, leader of the Association for the Promotion of Human Rights (APRODH), said the expectation of substantially larger packages helped swell the FNL's membership.

"I know civilians, including mechanics, civil servants, who have been enrolled with the hope of benefiting from demobilisation money," he told IRIN.

APRODH investigations, he added, had showed abuse of the process, with some non-FNL members paying 200,000 and 300,000 Burundi Francs ($160-$240) to be registered for demobilisation.

Léonidas Barumwete, professor of political science at the University of Burundi, warned that excluding the FNL associates could "drive them to seek other arms likely to increase banditry and more crimes". He added that a weapon could be bought in Burundi for just BFr65,000.

Onesphore Nduwayo, who heads the Observatory of Government Action watchdog, said it was essential for authorities to bear the needs of FNL associates in mind to "prevent them getting tempted to destabilise the country's security".

Experience from similar programmes around the world had shown that rebel groups only handed in all their arms if they were sure the peace process would succeed. "Countries in post-conflict phases have been drifting back to war," Barumwete warned.

Progress

Despite the challenges of implementing the ceasefire accords, the process has yielded some good results.

The FNL has now been officially recognised as a political party instead of a rebel movement. "It is now time for the party to compete with other political parties; the FNL will run in 2010 elections," Rwasa said.

"With integration of the FNL into the defence forces and other institutions, and demobilisation of some of its combatants, the number of [anti-government] forces has reduced," Nduwayo said.

Rwasa, for his part, urged his men to "keep up morale" and exercise restraint in difficult circumstances. "At the level of FNL leadership, we had wished all our combatants be integrated, but this is not practically possible," he said.

General Evariste Ndayishimiye, the government's representative in the demobilisation task force, said the programme was an "irreversible step" towards peace in Burundi. "The process will succeed, given the commitment of those leading the mediation," he said. Those who attempt to destabilise the country, he warned, would be punished in compliance with the law and "be considered criminals".

However, FNL members demanded assurances. "I know how to shoot, I learnt how to set an ambush, the 100,000 may yield five million [Francs]," one combatant told IRIN.

Another termed Rwasa "a traitor", saying the former rebel leader had "abandoned" them by getting demobilised before other combatants.

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