Fr Michael Lapsley,SSM

“All people are capable of being both perpetrators and victims – and sometimes both.”

What do you say in a country which is drenched in layers of blood where neighbour has killed neighbour purely because of their ethnic identity.

We came from the Institute for Healing of Memories not with the answers to Burundi’s problems – but to acknowledge the pain of the people, the depth of their trauma, to listen and to learn from them and to share with them what we had learnt in South Africa as we combatted a crime against humanity.

The night before travelling to Burundi I took a look at what the international reknowned tourist guide: Lonely Planet had to say about Burundi. The one page description is quite chilling although already dated with recent new victories in the process of negotiations. (see below)

I had never before visited Burundi but through my involvement with the Agency for Refugee Education, Skills Training and Advocacy, I was aware of how the ethnic conflict in both Burundi and Rwanda plays itself out amongst the refugee community in South Africa.

We arrived in Bujumbura on October 15. Just a few days previously, a peace deal was signed in Pretoria between the Government of Burundi and one of the major rebel movements. There had been an earlier peace deal facilitated by former President Nelson Mandela that had brought opposing political parties but not the rebel armies into the political process. Just after we arrived it began to rain – a particularly propitious sign in many parts of Africa.

We were invited by THARS. The Trauma Healing and Reconcilitation Services an initiative taken a coupler of years previously under the auspices of the Friends church with links to Quakers in other parts of the world. Some of the team of THARS had spent 4 months in Cape Town in 2001. Before they left Cape Town, we spoke about the possibility of coming to Burundi to share our experience. Charles Berahino was instrumental in our invitation and took great care of us throughout our visit.

Back in 1998 we had visited Rwanda and shared our experience and learnt from them. As I understood it, there are some parallels between the situations in both countries, including a similar ethnic mix, intergenerational conflict and colossal loss of life extending to hundreds of thousands of lives. We were to hear again that a significant dimension in the roots of the conflict lay in the differential treatment given by the colonial power Belgium which favoured one ethnic group over another. Just as in South Africa “race” is the determinant factor so it is “ethnicity”in Burundi.

Our network coordinator, Mongezi Mngese and I were met at the airport by virtually the whole staff of the Bujumbura office of THARS. As he was absent from the capital, we met and were welcomed by the THARS co-ordinator, David Niyonzima, later. We were left in no doubt that we were very welcome. Headquarted in Bujumbura, THARS has “listening centres” offering different trauma healing programmes in a number of towns. With people from a number of other faith based organisations, staff members of THARS formed the core of our healing of memories workshop.

A number of South African soldiers were milling aroud at the airport. Our country is a key role player in the attempts to end the conflict. We were very pleased that a social worker and a chaplain from the South African peacekeeping contingent joined the healing of memories workshop which began the day after our arrival.

The South African press had been reporting that there had been fighting on the outskirts of the capital for some time. The first evening we were taken out to dinner. We were told that it is not unusual to hear gunfire but all was quiet as we arrived.

Our workshop began the night after our arrival. We were told on the first evening that for cultural reasons, Burundians find it difficult to express their feelings.

Our experience in previous years, in Eritrea, East Timor and Rwanda allowed us to respect this assertion and its truth. At the same time given an appropriate and safe context, I was sure that both male and female participants would express their deepest feelings. It was true.

Many of the participants had experienced multiple losses of family members due to ethnic conflict over a period of thirty years. Like South Africa, as well as the ravages of war, many have lost family members because of the AIDS pandemic.

During the conflicts of the early nineties, it was not just combatants but communities who killed the “other”. Was it normal I was asked to rejoice in the loss of life of the “enemy”.

A number of participants had travelled for several hours by bus to attend the workshop. Travelling by road is a dangerous business in Burundi. There is always the possibility of attack by a rebel group who are likely to take your possessions, burn your vehicle and leave you naked on the side of the road – unless you are a soldier and then they will kill you

The verbal evaluation was quite encouraging:

- I hadn’t realised how serious the workshop was at the beginning. It enabled me to review my whole life and face issues from the past that I have been avoiding.

- I was able to discover some of the feelings I have been avoiding and have not been aware of

- the workshop made me aware of how much the past of Burundi has affected me.

- I had to deal with hard emotions which were evoked during the time of the drawing

- different ethnic groups can share together how they have been effected.

- I liked the freedom of expression right through the workshop; it enabled us to trust and made us willing to share our feelings.

- I loved the conclusion because all of us pledged how the war had affected us..

- The workshop made me realise that I am not alone in the pain I experience

- helped me to think/feel about what happened in the past – have to start a new approach to life.

- moved by Fr Michael’s story – especially how he spoke of the journey from victim to victor

- the workshop helped me to reflect on how I missed my family. It also helped me understand the history of my country better.

- the workshop assisted me to learn new techniques on how to deal with Trauma.

- helped me make new friends

- good to share my own story. The process offered more healing than any medicine

- the workshop made me understand more and better about what is happening in Burundi and how the people have been affected by war

- it has been inspiring for me as a soldier

- I appreciate very much the method used here

- appreciate the work of healing of memories – lots of great work you are doing.

On the day after the workshop I attended an ecumenical prayer meeting for peace

which for the first time ever brought together Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, Anglicans and Protestants. Seems like Nelson Mandela had managed to get politicians around the table before a rather boastful US evangelist managed to get the Christians to pray together!

Rather unhelpfully I thought, the evangelist was quite scathing about the usefulness of peace accords. I couldn’t help feeling that it would be more useful if the preacher had encouraged the faith community to play their part in implementing the peace accord. At one point the evangelist said that peace accords would not bring peace. The Anglican bishop who was interpreting for the crowd, wisely changed the emphasis by saying that peace accords alone would not bring peace.

The day after the workshop I held a meeting with the Washington based Search for Common Ground project which is a funding partner of THARS as part of a wider project against torture. USAID is also involved in the funding. I was interviewed for a radio program as part of a media project which distributes programmes on peace and reconciliation. In one of their projects they feature people in communities who have acted in significant ways to foster reconciliation between ethnic groups

In the evening there was a public event at a local hotel at which I was asked to speak on the theme of “From tortured to healer”. I said I was sorry about the great wrong that had been done to countless Burundians. I said I did not know the answers to Burundians problems, but I could share what I had learnt in South Africa. It also gave an opportunity for national media coverage for THARS and the Search for Common Ground project against torture. I was asked about the role of spirituality in healing. As I pointed out, not everybody is religious, but everyone asks spiritual questions, not least about how to deal with the past and the difficult journey of forgiveness.

The final question concerned the death penalty which is still carried out in Burundi. I spoke about our South African experience where executions were common place and among the highest in the world. I asserted that Burundi would be a better place when the death penalty was abolished and the Burundian state removed from itself the right to take life. Interestingly the man who asked the question has published a book about how police can investigate crime without using torture.

My presentation took place on the eve of a public holiday commemorating the assassination of the President of Burundi in 1993. I spoke about the importance of remembering but asked to what end we remember. I recalled how in South Africa we had taken a public holiday (December 16) which had been used to celebrate racial supremacy and had been made a day of national reconciliation.

Very encouragingly, our own Ambassador Welile Nhlapo, Deputy Head of the African Union Mission in Burundi, spoke in support of the sentiments I had expressed including opposition to the Death penalty.

Ten of the workshop participants returned a few days later for facilitator training.

One person was from Search for Common Ground and the rest were staff of THARS.

They shared some of what they had learnt during the workshop. We sought to equip them with further skills to enable them to use our methodology as a further contribution to the nation’s healing.

Our last event was a presentation to a group of university students on “The Power of Forgiveness” I spoke inter alia about “bicycle theology” and how forgiveness is reduced to “saying sorry” and we fail to return the stolen bicycle i.e. how reparation and restitution are part of the journey of forgiveness.

At the end of my presentation, I was asked if since I belonged to the ANC I was in support of the Burundian rebel group which cloaked itself in a religious garb. Not being an expert on Burundi, I recalled that the ANC had called for negotiations in 1912, fought an armed struggle for 30 years and came to the negotiating table once the Apartheid regime agreed to talk. “Beware of those who claim religious sanction, to kill, pillage and rape.” Nevertheless trauma healing would be needed for all Burundians. How proud I am, especially given our history, that the South African army is in Burundi as peace keepers.

Impossible in Burundi, I was told later, to give back the bicycle. Why because people no longer have what they stole from their neighbour. Impossible I asked, or very challenging. Very challenging came the reply. Others asserted that their needed to be forms of reparation and restitution.

Complex nevertheless where one ethnic group had historically been advantaged.

After my presentation at the university, one committed Christian student asked me about the role of Christians in reconciliation. Like many devout Christians he had been encouraged to pray but not to act for reconciliation, justice and healing for all. The mass killings that have taken place are not only an indictment on the politics that have dominated but also point to the inadequacy of our Chrstian theology and discipleship as it has been proclaimed and lived across the Christian spectrum.

Burundi confronted me anew with what war does not just to individuals but to the soul of a people. Some of our workshop participants confessed that it was the first time they had reflected on the ways they had been shaped by the terrible journey their nation is still travelling – manifest also in certain behaviours, coping mechanisms including a dulling of emotional and moral awareness.

Nevertheless we were privileged to hear the stories of many beautiful human beings who have dared to act out their faith with bravery and compassion and to be witnesses of a common humanity.

On the day before we left Bujumburra there was fighting in parts of the capital as one of the rebel groups who had signed the peace accord a few days previously, fought gun battles with the rebel group which had not signed, struggling for pre-eminence and advantage.

I was reminded that the early years of our own transition were among the bloodiest.

Successful negotiations will mean that the nation can truly begin the very long journey towards reconstruction and healing.

As we checked into Bujumburra International airport for the journey home, the airline clerk said she had seen me on TV and appreciated my message. The Burundian I sat next to on the flight had also seen the TV interview and thanked us for coming and asked us when we would be back.

I promised that if we were invited, we would be happy to return.

On my way to the airport, I had bought a carved wooden figure of the crucified Christ which now hangs in my bedroom to remind me of the crucified and the crucifiers in Burundi and elsewhere.

I thank God for THARS and for many Burundians who are committed to building a juster, kinder, and more gentle Burundi and for contributing to healing the wounds of the nation.

Monday, 27 October 2003

Ends.

Burundi

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Warning

Burundi remains a dangerous destination. Fighting is at its worst in outlying areas but gunfire is not uncommon on the streets of the capital, Bujumbura. Civilians, the Burundi military and government officials have been targeted, and the presence of a South African peace force has failed to curb hostilities.

After eight years of civil war and sporadic peace talks, Burundi entered into a power-sharing agreement in November 2001, brokered by former South African president Nelson Mandela. The agreement saw the then military ruler, Pierre Buyoya, a member of the Tutsi minority, become president of Burundi for a period of 18 months. At the end of this period the presidency is to be passed on to Buyoya's deputy, Hutu leader Domitien Ndayizeye. However, Hutu rebels committed to the overthrow of Buyoya have refused to take part in the agreement. Clashes between the rebels and the Burundi army intensified in April 2002, and thousands of people fled the capital to escape the violence. Thousands more fled in June 2002, after unidentified bombs shelled the city. Meanwhile, refugees have been slowly returning from exile in Tanzania, although 24 were burned to death while trying to do so in January 2002.

Ethnic violence is not new to Burundi, one of the most densely populated nations in the world. The Tutsi minority has effectively controlled the country since independence in 1964. Little international protest was raised by the murder of around 200,000 Hutus in 1972 and the flight of another 100,000 to neighbouring countries. Since then, the story has remained the same, with ongoing outbreaks of tribal violence. While the mid-1980s saw a small shift towards power-sharing in Burundi, it also saw a crackdown on the Catholic Church and any other group that showed signs of sympathising with the Hutu majority. After another brutal massacre in 1988 - this one claiming somewhere between 4000 and 24,000 lives - the international community finally applied pressure, leading to multiparty elections in 1993 that were won by a Hutu-dominated party. The celebrations were short-lived, as after only four months in power President Ndadaye was assassinated. Before 1994 had even begun, large-scale ethnic fighting saw more than 100,000 people killed and the escape of 400,000 refugees to Rwanda. Following the death of the new president in 1994, further fighting took place. In the following two years another 100,000 people - mostly Hutus - lost their lives at the hands of the Tutsi army.

Today, some 800,000 people, mostly Hutus, are living in Tutsi-controlled camps. An international embargo has been lifted, and five Tutsis have been prosecuted for the assassination of Hutu president Ndadaye, but the situation remains dire. With the Burundi army also involved in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaïre) and more than 80% of the country's hospital beds taken by AIDS patients, the tiny central African nation has plenty to worry about.

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