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

Zaire. In the late 1990s, however, more than 50,000 former refugees from Zaire were
again hosted by Rwanda and Burundi (UNHCR, 1999).
Conflict and migratory flows have evolved into a cyclical pattern in the Central
African Great Lakes Region. Conflict generates refugees, and large flows of involuntary
migrants can then have an impact on conflict. Instability increases, also outside the real
conflict zone, for conflicts are often transferred by the migrants (Hovil, 2008).
Rwamatwara (2005) states, for example: “In some countries, failure to find a permanent
solution to the refugee problem has pushed uprooted people to organize themselves to
force their way back home through military means and this has caused more waves of
population displacement. The cases of Rwanda and Burundi are good examples” (p. 179).
In the Central African Great Lakes Region, local rebel groups were often able to increase
their activities after military groups who were defeated joined them (ibid.). This has led to
spill-over effects of violent conflict across countries. Moreover, return migrants can bring
back old tensions when they move to their home countries again (Hovil, 2008).
3.2 International migration from Burundi: 1960-2000
Burundi has experienced different waves of out-migration in the period 1960-2000. Most
of these migration flows were conflict-induced, and the majority of refugees fled to
neighbouring countries such as Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Burundi also served as a refugee-hosting country in that period, receiving
refugees from neighbouring countries that struggled with political and civil conflict. This
section provides an overview of the most important refugee flows from and to Burundi
and places them in historic context.
3.2.1 Refugee flows from Burundi
When looking at the root causes of refugee flows in Burundi, the impact of civil conflict
in the country cannot be overlooked. As discussed in section two, Burundi has
experienced five major civil conflicts in the period between 1960 and 2000. These took
place in 1965, 1972, 1988, 1991, and 1993. The 1972 and 1993 conflicts generated
especially large migration flows. In 1972 the violent actions of the Burundian military
against the Hutu population in the country led to a refugee movement of around 300,000
people., most of whom fled to Tanzania (ICG, 2003; Ngaruku & Nkurunziza, 2005). The
1988 and 1991 conflicts generated relatively small refugee flows with the former
producing 50,000 refugees and latter producing 38,000 (Ngaruku & Nkurunziza, 2005).
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