II ~I ~ ~II~ ~~ ~II ~ ~II - IFES

IFES Pre-electionAssessment: Burundithe government has tried to legislate away the ethnic problem. They believe that, as far as thegovernment is concerned, ethnic discrimination ended with the adoption of the Charter of Unityand the Constitution. While Rutus took active part in some of the debate over these documents(especially the Charter), many want a more full-bodied, on-going, dialogue. Some also wantthe government to own up to past atrocities.The problem with a more active dialogue is that it could inflame passions that would serve tofeed the exclusivist agendas of extremists. The President seems very concerned about this; hemay realize that he has created somewhat artificial devices for achieving unity. But he hopesthat multipartyism and the constitution will help absorb the conflict and give the country sometime to develop a more open system. The risk he takes is that these constructs turn out to beno more than an intellectual exercise.At the social level, ethnic relations are not as idyllic as the government paints them. ABurundian will not engage in a passing social relationship without knowing if he or she isdealing with a Rutu or Tutsi. Within Bujumbura's elite, educated class Tutsis and Rutus donot share the same social sphere. The story about Tutsi friends sharing a bottle around the barand switching to glasses when a Rutu walks in to join is drawn from hard truth and from adeep historical hatred passed on by a rich and lively oral tradition in which rumor andembellishment thrive.The government often talks about the ethnic problem dissolving away in a sea of mixedmarriages and it likes to challenge foreigners to try and distinguish between Tutsis and Rutus.This is disingenuous. Mixed marriages are looked down on, are fairly rare, and in any casesolve very little as ethnicity is determined and passed on by.the father's affiliation. Also, whilephysical appearances might fool foreigners, Burundians always seem to know who is who.18