Tribal gunmen and militia groups have been

involved in fierce clashes with Shia Houthi

rebels
How the governments youth wing, a purportedly peaceful group of former fighters and government loyalists, has
pushed the country to the brink of war.

BY JESSICA HATCHER-JUNE 29, 2015

BUJUMBURA, Burundi The body of Leonidas Musago, 29, lay still in the middle of
an unpaved backstreet of Nyakabiga, a district of Burundis capital of Bujumbura on
the morning of May 7. From a distance, his body looked like one of the protestors
many roadblocks made from blackened logs that for weeks had prevented vehicles
from entering or exiting much of the city. Musago had been stoned to death by an
angry mob, his body then burned. Blood trickled from a head wound, and his corpse
only partially burned after the mob quickly extinguished the fire lay charred in the
dirt.
Musago was a member of the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of President Pierre
Nkurunzizas ruling party, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy
Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD). At its simplest, the designation

refers to anyone under the age of 35 who supports the ruling CNDD-FDD party. But in
this region, youth wings of political parties have a history of violent confrontation. The
Interahamwe, a term now used to describe the Hutu perpetrators of Rwandas 1994
genocide against the Tutsis, were also part of the former ruling partys youth wing.
Musagos family insists that he did nothing wrong Musagos perceived crime, they
say, was no more than supporting the president and his political party in Burundi. Yet
there is little doubt that the broader group of which he was a member is implicated in
Burundis escalating violence.
More than 80 people have now died, and more than 400 have been injured in
Burundis political crisis sparked by Nkurunzizas April 25 announcement that he was
going to run for a third term in the upcoming presidential elections. The opposition,
which continues to demand that the 51-year-old president stand down, says a third
term is unconstitutional and violates the countrys peace agreement, which ended its
13-year civil war. But Nkurunziza supporters, including members of the Imbonerakure,
consider their presidents decision to run for a third term in the July 15 presidential
election justified. For the time being, police firing live rounds have put down the protest
movement, and the city has been cleared of barricades. A downward spiral of tit-for-tat
killings appears to have replaced them.The protestors live in fear of the Imbonerakure,
who they say are conducting deadly, house-to-house, moonlit killings and looting
sprees. The Imbonerakure, likewise, fear retaliatory attacks. I told him not to go
home, said one Imbonerakure on Friday morning, standing over the dead body of her
friend who lives in the Buterere neighborhood of the capital, where there are many
protestors. She says he was beaten to death for supporting the ruling party. A string of
grenade blasts over the last two weeks has further heightened fears in the capital.
The opposition has been boycotting Mondays the parliamentary election and by
extension the presidential election slated for July 15. They are demanding that a
number of key conditions be met, including the release of political prisoners, return of
refugees and the restoration of human rights. U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Raad alHussein, said in a statement on June 9 that his office receives between 40 and 50
phone calls pleading for protection or reporting abuse every day. According to
consistent testimonies, he said, the Imbonerakure operate on instructions from the
government with the support of the national police and intelligence services, which
provide them with weapons, vehicles, and sometimes uniforms. In a country that has
already suffered two genocides, Hussein warned that the Imbonerakure could tip an
already extremely tense situation over the edge.
Some loyalists and protestors say the current situation is beginning to resemble the
lead-up to last conflict, which began in 1993 after the countrys first-elected Hutu
president was assassinated by Tutsis; it only ended in 2006, after a lengthy peace
process. The Imbonerakure emerged four years later, when the CNDD-FDD came to
power in 2010. It was made up largely of decommissioned fighters who had fought for
the Hutu rebellion during the war, the partys precursor. (Burundis political climate,
however, is no longer divided along ethnic lines. According to one Imbonerakure
member, about one in ten are Tutsi.)

There are plenty of nonviolent young supporters of CNDD-FDD, and they have a wellorganized presence in most of the country. We have a strong culture. We need to use
our culture and our knowledge to resolve this peacefully, said David Nikiza, a soft
spoken Imbonerakure in the capital.
However, there is little doubt many Imbonerakure retain close ties to their former
comrades in arms who went on to become members of Burundis armed forces. In
April 2014, a confidential U.N. cable was made public, accusing high-ranking generals
of distributing arms and military uniforms to the group. In mid-April of this year
weeks before the crisis began radio reporter Euloge Niyonzima, who works for the
countrys most popular station, RPA, uncovered similar claims in a series of
broadcasts. A number of Imbonerakure, Niyonzima said, had been armed by the
government and were receiving training in the protected Rukoko forest on the border
with Congo. A few weeks later, armed men in civilian clothing Imbonerakure, he
claims entered his house by force at night while his wife and two young daughters
slept. Niyonzima, who knew not to sleep at home, fled: Neither his family nor he was
safe in Burundi any longer. Imbonerakure are free to do whatever they want to
promote fear and disorder, he said.
After the protestors mobilized, the government quickly branding them an insurrection,
the Imbonerakure stepped up their activities to support the security forces.There
remains a heavy police presence in the city today. Ange Bukweberi, legal
representative for Burundian rights group, Mutima Mwiza, says, they are very, very
close, speaking of relations between the Burundian police and the Imbonerakure. Her
job is to mediate between the police and protestors and to monitor the security forces
for human rights abuses. She estimates that security forces arrested some 600 people
in the capital during the first week of protests. Dozens of police were injured trying to
control angry protestors and demonstrations. The police are tired. Theyre now using
the Imbonerakure, she said, an assertion based on the simple fact that she like
many among the protestors knows, by sight, who they are.
While some Imbonerakure have already armed themselves, others are waiting in the
wings. Christophe, who asked that his full name not be used, is a 38-year-old former
CNDD-FDD rebel and member of the Imbonerakure. He is polite and measured as he
talks about his past. He defected from the rebellion in 2002. Fed up with fighting, he
moved back to Musaga, a district two miles from the center of Bujumbura. There, he
began a new life as a taxi driver. When Nkurunziza came to power in 2010, Christophe
continued to support him by helping to organize rallies and meetings for the
Imbonerakure. While doing this, Christophe lived happily alongside non-supporters of
the party for years. Now, he is once more ready to fight. Asked what would happen if
the president were not allowed to run for a third term, his eyes blazed.
He rolled up the sleeve of his tattered pinstriped shirt to show how his skinny arms had
been bruised in fights with anti-government protestors. The situation reminds him of
1993, he said, when the Tutsi government burned down his home at the beginning of

the civil war.

He believes the opposition has already distributed weapons among the protestors a
claim that is unsubstantiated, although the U.N. has warnedof increasingly coercive
efforts to push people into actively supporting the opposition. On the side of the
Imbonerakure, Christophe says, there are men with serious guns and weapons,
distributed to decommissioned soldiers by the intelligence agency.
Christophe himself is disarmed, but he says he is ready to take matters into his own
hands. Well try to organize ourselves and kill the protestors to get their weapons.
Fighting is not just about firepower there are machetes, which we know how to use.
This will be a war of many weapons, he says. Sometimes the intelligence agencies
need help, he explains.
The Imbonerakures chairman, Denis Karera, did not respond to Foreign Policys
requests for an interview, but told Reuters in May that they neither condone the current
violence nor promote militancy. In case there are some who are implicated in violence
pretending to be Imbonerakure, those should be pursued and punished for their acts,
he said.
Yet justice and security remain a distant prospect. Although the demonstrations have
largely been extinguished, many residents in the capital feel the city remains on the
precipice of even more extreme violence particularly given the failure to agree on
terms for free and fair elections. For international observers, the question now is
whether a small number of political elite will prove willing to propel their country back
to civil war to protect their own interests. If that happens, the governments youth wing
is likely to play a key role.
For many, the battle lines are already drawn. If there is one Imbonerakure killed by
protestors, Christophe warned, a war will be announced.
Photo credit: SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images
Posted by Thavam