Migration in Burundi: History, Current Trends and Future - MGSoG ...

Table 4 shows, the 1993 war, which lasted for 9 years, had the largest impact on
Burundi’s population in terms of deaths and refugees. It resulted in over 300,000
casualties and the displacement of 1.2 million people (Ngaruku & Nkurunziza, 2005;
World Bank, 2009a). It affected not just certain provinces but the whole country, and it
destroyed Burundi’s economic, political, and social infrastructure. The civil war ended
officially in 2005, when Pierre Nkurunziza became the new Burundian president.
In 1972 around 100,000 people died in what Lemarchand (1996) calls: “one of
the most appalling human rights violations in the annals of post independence Africa” (p.
xxv). Genocide broke out in Burundi--the first of two in the period after 1962— in which
the Tutsi Army killed primarily Hutus. As can be seen in Table 4, Ngaruku and
Nkurunziza (2005) estimate the total number of casualties of Burundi’s 1972 Genocide at
200,000. Government groups were responsible for the deaths of almost 20,000 people in
Northern Burundi in 1988 and almost 3,000 in 1991 (Lemarchand, 1996). Again, as can
be derived from Table 4, the estimates vary. The majority of casualties were of Hutu
origin.
Table 4: Key Characteristics of Civil War in Burundi
Characteristic 1965 1972 1988 1991 1993
Duration (months) 2 4 2 1 108
Deaths (thousands) 5 200 15 1-3 300
Refugees (thousands) 0 300 50 38 687
Ratio of deaths plus
refugees over total
population (percent)
0.2 14.0 1.3 0.7 17.1
Years from previous war - 6 16 3 2
Provinces affected Muramvya
Whole
country
Ngozi,
Kirundo
Cibitoke,
Bubanza,
Bujumbura
Whole
country
Source: Ngaruku & Nkurunziza, 2005.
The root causes of conflict in Burundi are complex, debated, and strongly intertwined
with regional and historical issues in the Central African Great Lakes Region. Conflicts
often spread to neighbouring countries due to overlapping cultural identities in both
countries, which has resulted, for example, in support from people from the same ethnic
group across borders (Lemarchand, 2006; Spaan & Van Moppes, 2006). Lemarchand
(1997) describes the process as follows: “Where ethnic fault-lines cut across national
boundaries conflict tends to spill over from one area to the next, transforming kin
solidarities into a powerful vector of transnational violence” (p. 178)
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