Once a symbol of ethnic unity in post-civil war Burundi, the army is now deeply divided and faces a growing climate of fear after a failed coup by generals in the central African nation.
The nation was plunged into crisis when Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza announced a controversial bid for a third term in April, leading to deadly street protests and an attempted coup in the middle of last month, which laid bare political splits within the military.
Coup leader General Godefroid Niyombare is now on the run, Burundian Minister of Defence Cyrille Ndayirukiye has been arrested and hundreds of other alleged coup plotters are absconding or in jail. Officers now fear that the army is being purged along ethnic lines.
Photo: AFP
“I cannot sleep, I cannot eat, I almost fled the country several times,” said one senior officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that he has twice evaded arrest.
The officer is a former member of the pre-civil war army, the FAB, which was dominated by ethnic Tutsis and pitted against a host of Hutu rebel groups in the 1993-2006 civil war.
Officers are worried that Tutsi ex-FAB members are now being specifically purged, targeted on the pretext that they were complicit in the attempted putsch.
“No soldier of the former FAB, from private to general, feels safe,” the officer said, despite the fact that both Hutus and Tutsis are among the alleged coup plotters on the run or in jail.
Niyombare — who relatives and intelligence sources say has sought refuge elsewhere in the region — is a Hutu who fought alongside Nkurunziza in the CNDD-FDD Hutu rebel group that is now the ruling party.
About 150 members of the 11th Battalion, accused of spearheading the coup attempt, are in jail, but sources say that perhaps 300 others from the same unit have absconded with their weapons.
For two weeks, arrests have been increasing, with most of those detained former FAB soldiers, among them two colonels, a major and a captain, according to the Association for the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees, which said other officers had gone missing.
“We, the former FAB, are the only ones targeted, while those from the CNDD-FDD are not worried,” another officer said.
The ethnic parity of the army — made up of equal numbers of Hutu and Tutsi in a country where the population is 85 percent Hutu — is considered a fundamental achievement of peace and a guarantee of stability.
The wounds inflicted on the army by the political crisis will be slow to heal and the consequences for Burundi could be explosive.
Army spokesman Gaspard Baratuza insisted that “only those who are suspected of involvement in the attempted coup are arrested.”
However, an outside analyst dismissed the claim with a stark warning over the growing divisions.
“The regime is destroying one of Nkurunziza’s greatest achievements since taking office: the integration of former Hutu rebels and Tutsi ex-soldiers,” the unnamed analyst said.
Former Burundian minister of defense Pontien Gaciyubwenge, an ex-FAB Tutsi general, proclaimed his neutrality during the coup and was sacked soon afterward before fleeing abroad.
His chief of staff Prime Niyongabo, a former Hutu rebel of the CNDD-FDD, had urged him to join the side of the police in opposing the coup and the anti-third term protests.
Nearly 40 people have been killed in demonstrations in the capital Bujumbura since Nkurunziza announced his bid for a third term — but another officer warned things could get far worse if tensions in the army are not resolved.
“The day they really divide the army, it will not be like these protests we have experienced,” the officer said. “That will be the end of Burundi as a nation.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia