President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term in April plunged Burundi into a state of unrest not seen since the end of the country’s civil war in 2005. Refugees are arriving in neighboring Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the tens of thousands, raising the possibility that the deteriorating security situation could spill over borders.
As an non-government organization carrying out population, health, and environment operations in some of the areas most impacted by the crisis, the gravity of the situation is not lost on us. But neither were we taken by surprise as events unfolded. Our modus operandi involves our being deeply embedded in the region and its dynamics, and our teams have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground for 18 months.
Further, we believe the presence and engagement of local and international actors in Burundi is crucial in helping to achieve the best possible outcome, not only towards the health and environment issues we initially came here to address, but for the stability of the African Great Lakes region as a whole.
Located on the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, Burundi has been relatively peaceful since the end of its civil war. It’s in fact been lauded for its efforts to diffuse ethnic tensions and share political power. As stipulated by the Arusha Accords, which facilitated this peace, Burundi’s constitution allows for a president to sit for only two terms. However, Burundi’s ruling party, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy–Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), and its supporters argue that Nkurunziza has only been elected by the people once, having been elected by the parliament for his first term. Nkurunziza running again this year, as he has declared he intends to do, would therefore be constitutionally questionable, and opponents fear it could jeopardize the Arusha Accords and the fragile peace they brought to the region.
Nkurunziza’s decision, announced at the end of April, set off a rapid chain of events, including an attempted coup:
Dealing closely with health, environment, population, and security issues, and the inextricable ties that exist between them, we clearly see that developments in one sector can quickly have knock-on impacts in many others.
The Great Lakes region has always been very fluid with consistently high rates of refugees and population movements, so we are used to providing services to displaced populations. Often, there is very little recognition of the numbers of displaced people ringing Lake Tanganyika. We spoke to a local chief in Makobola, South Kivu (DRC), who explained that he conducts a census of the area every three months to try to keep track. His most recent survey showed a population of 11,000 while the health center census, from just one year prior, showed only 5,500.
We keep our objectives broad, understanding that our methods must be deeply flexible and dynamic in order to be effective in such an environment. For example, in 2013 we catalogued hundreds of indigenous plants in the DRC used by local healers. The project not only helped us understand and protect the biodiversity of the region, but built essential relationships with traditional healers whose trust proved invaluable.
Our population, health, and environment (PHE) work continues, but we’ve also adjusted to the crisis. Over the last few weeks, we have supported international organizations in traveling around Lake Tanganyika to the makeshift refugee camp at Kagunga, Tanzania. We are sharing our local contacts within the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and other departments to help bridge communication gaps amongst actors who need to be coordinated. And we are currently hosting Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland at our compound in Kigoma. Our staff speaks all the languages of the basin – of which there are dozens – and many of them have been refugees themselves, so they can offer deep empathic support along with our supply chains and logistical know-how.
We will continue to have eyes and ears on the ground as the situation evolves in Burundi and its neighbors. Key developments to track will be the return to political dialogue and how (and whether) the East African Community and African Union will engage positively; the United States’ appointment of a new special envoy for the Great Lakes Region and the DRC to replace Russ Feingold (this vacancy is deeply damaging at a time like this); if the UN will replace Said Djinnit in the position of mediator for the crisis; and Pierre Nkurunziza’s next steps. There are fears Nkurunziza will invoke ethnicity and/or be forced to stand down if the pressure becomes too great.
Whatever happens, we are committed to the communities living around Lake Tanganyika and our integrated approach. In some ways, PHE was made for fluid situations like this. We have worked hard to build trust with communities and offer a suite of interventions that touch on people’s immediate needs – reproductive health, environmental management, alternative livelihoods. This is no less true during a time of instability.
Amy Lehman is founder and CEO of LTFHC/WAVE, an NGO engaging in health systems building in the Lake Tanganyika Basin and policy work throughout the African Great Lakes region. Hannah Muirhead works on policy for the organization.
Sources: UN High Commission on Refugees.
Photo Credit: Protestors against a third term for President Pierre Nkurunziza near the town of Ijenda, Burundi, June 3, courtesy of Goran Tomasevic/Reuters.
