Hello. This is Jun-kwon Park from HUMAN IN LOVE Burundi Branch.
For the past one and a half month, I had a new and spine-chilling experience. One even told me that I was at the scene of history. Since gaining its independence from Belgium in the 1960s, Burundi has suffered from continuous racial conflicts between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples, which have displaced numerous people and delayed national development. Burundi is currently one of the five poorest countries in Africa.
Between 1993 and 1996, the president of Burundi was assassinated and the conflict between government and rebel forces was intensified, causing death toll to reach about 150,000 and driving a number of refugees to neighboring countries. As the civil war continued for more than 10 years, the absolutely exhausted government and rebel forces concluded the Arusha Accords and agreed to set the presidential term to five years and only allow reelection. Afterwards, President Pierre Nkurunziza took office in 2005.
< Protestors against the third consecutive term of President Pierre Nkurunziza / Source: AFP >
However, President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his intention to run for the third consecutive term on Apr. 25, ahead of the presidential election which was scheduled to be held this year. This once again triggered brutal conflicts, breaking the peaceful atmosphere of the country.
< President Pierre Nkurunziza is holding a press conference in his office amidst strict security/ Source: Reuter >
< Armed soldiers to prevent the protestors/ Source: Reuter >
Conflicts between those who support the president and those who are against his third term have grown more intense, developing to violent and bloody protests. Currently, more than 100,000 Burundian people have sought refuge from the conflict in neighboring countries such as Tanzania and Rwanda.
< Burundian refugees who fled to Tanzania and Tanzanian police watching the refugees/ Source: Reuter >
Against this backdrop, there was an attempt to stage a coup while President Pierre Nkurunziza left the country for the East African Summit. The riot was raised at a place just five minutes away in driving time from the HUMAN IN LOVE office, so we were able to hear the sounds so closely and vividly. The coup eventually fell through.
As the situation aggravated, I and local staff Maryse-Five INGABIRE had to flee the country to Rwanda. I stayed at the house of one of the staff of the Korean Embassy to Rwanda and received news about the situation of Burundi.
The Burundian government changed the presidential election from Jun. 26 to Jul. 15, but the opposition party did not agree with this decision and the riot continued, showing no signs of calming down. Even worse, according to the news reported to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the government-supporting militia was overtly attacking local residents who were opposed to the president and the ruling party.
< Government forces firing firebombs to the protestors/ Source: AFP >
If the international community ignores this political situation of Burundi, the situation would get worse, and due to political greed of some politicians, the life of the whole Burundian people will be threatened, driving them to more extreme poverty.
Burundi, the small but beautiful country, needs your support and interest.
Despite everything, it was fortunate that no damage was done to the schools of the HUMAN IN LOVE scholarship students, according to the education officials and principals. The classes went on as usual. However, I was still anxious for the students.
