The Burundian Civil War 1993 – 2005 By Marie
Dedicated To:
Alice
For making my childhood, a perfect one.
Table Of Contents 1. Dedication ……………………………… Page 2 2. Working Out ………………………… Page 4 - 7 3. Historical Narrative ………………… Page 8 - 9 4. Afterword ………………………………. Page 10 5. About The Author ……………………. Page 11 6. Bibliography …………………………... Page 12
I was 3 months old when I first stepped on the warm, smooth ground of Burundi not thinking of what my future was awaiting for me. It wasn’t the first time my parents went to Burundi, they went there a few times per month; that’s why my family decided it would be easier to live there, instead of living in the middle of a jungle in Congo where I was born. A few years later I started school with my five younger siblings. I woke up when it was still dark and chilly outside and then I woke my younger siblings, and helped them get ready for school. I was young but it was my responsibility to help my parents because I was the oldest. We walked to our school at around 6:00 AM and we arrived at around 6:10 AM. Our school was pretty close to our house since Bujumbura (the capital of Burundi) was really small.
We walked through the woods when the sun started to rise, and when we saw the school we would all start running to reach our friends. Our schools pupils were a mix of locals and Europeans. It was a Belgian school but adapted to the locals. We spent a few minutes catching up with our friends and then our school started. It started very early because of the weather. The weather was
humid and it got warmer by the day, going up to 40° Celsius at times. When it turned 12:00, we all ran into the big meadow of the school, and we climbed the big trees. After we did activities, at around 13:00 school was done and we walked home with our friends. When we arrived home we ate fruit salads with mango, beef heart, passion fruit and all the other amazing types of fruit from Burundi. My mom was always home so she cooked a lot, we mostly ate Belgian food, but only using local ingredients. After that we often went to our friends house and killed some time in the pool or on the swings. It was like the life, that you only see in your dreams, but even better. I was nine years old, about to turn 10, when the civil war started. My family was protected when it happened, so everything was a bit of a blur for me. The night of the 21st of October 1993, big green tanks passed in the street with groups of about 20 young men. The men entered into people’s houses and murder people in cold blood. They screamed in delight every time someone pleaded for their life. We could hear noises from the street the whole night. That night I remember staring at my bedroom wall and flinching every time I heard a noise. The next morning, we were told to stay in the house. It was always warm in Burundi but for those few weeks everyone had a cold feeling in their stomach, like a black hole was eating at their insides. Everyone was asking, who would be next? Our parents heard news from different people to see if everything was safe. The telephone line was frequently cut so it was hard to contact people. None of my friends from Europe got murdered, but 1 to 5 of my Burundian friends got assassinated. I can’t say I was that scared, mostly worried. I was 10 years old and a lot of people were protecting me, so I was safe but I didn’t know if my friends were. I had lots of questions and I didn’t get a lot of answers. The events were cramped, the government was
overthrown and someone else was put in power. We were waiting until the school year ended to go back to Belgium. At school nobody talked about it, everyone grew quieter as the months went by.
that I had to leave. All my European friends were also leaving later that year, so the black hole was getting smaller, but I still had all my Burundian friends. O
na Mo nda ya few mo nth s bef ore school ended, a band of 20 men came into our house. My siblings and I were at school but my mom and my gardener were there. They came in turning our whole house upside down, searching through our furniture and belongings. They were looking for weapons and they thought we were trafficking. We came home and everything looked normal but little did we know that our parents had cleaned up everything. My mom had called my dad to tell him what had happened. Our parents whispered during dinner, but other than that everyone acted as if nothing had happened. That night, I was awoken with the sound of someone shuffling through the house. I slowly went out of my bed trying not to make it creak. I looked in the hall and I could see my mom’s shadow. She was packing suitcases, when she turned, I could see tears running down her cheeks. She explained that we were leaving to Belgium on the 21st of April 1994 on Thursday with a plane. I felt tears running down my cheek in a rush. I turned around and ran to my bed. The next morning, I packed my luggage with a few games and important belongings. All my other belongings were distributed as gifts to my friends, when I had to announce that I was leaving. On Tuesday, I went to school with a bag of gifts. All my happiness had faded away only leaving a black pit in my stomach. I went to school and told all my friends
I stepped out of the plane and the cold breeze laughed at me and I shivered in fright. The most traumatizing thing was the cold. It was April, why would it be so cold? Everyone around me kept on asking questions; and they were always the same questions. “How could you live in a hut in the earth without electricity, without warm water, with nothing?” We didn’t live in a hut without water and electricity but everybody thought so... They all thought we had to walk for hours to collect water so it was a bit of a cultural shock. But they were curious and I liked enlarging their knowledge. We moved into our grandparent’s home. Though a few days later, my dad’s friend lend us their house for a few weeks. The house was only 400 meters from my grandparent’s house. In between the two houses there was a small school that had accepted us. I had the opportunity to go back to Burundi but I didn’t take it. My class from Burundi who managed to escape decided to go back to Burundi to find our beautiful memories. But at the last minute, I had the feeling again. The feeling of fright and of sadness. I told myself that all my beautiful childhood memories were there, and I was afraid that Burundi got too evaluated and modernized, that it destroyed all my memories. “I think of it everyday, like a memory stuck at the back of my head. I think of my children and I think, “I haven’t given them the perfect childhood that I got.”
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After Word Bujumbura is the capital of Burundi in Africa. The population is 11,673,670. The war started in 1993 October 21. It was a civil war where the Tutsis fought against the Hutus. Tutsis, the educated but few people, and Hutus the locals but many people. Burundi is a place in the South East of Africa. It was a brutal war, about 300,000 people died. The war started because the Tutsis assassinated President Ndadaye, and right after that the Hutus launched a war against the Tutsis. In 1994 Cyprien Ntaryamira is appointed as president. He was a Hutu. A few months later when he was in a plane, the plane got shot down and Cyprien was killed. That triggered the Rwanda genocide were 800,000 people were killed. In 2000 the government and three Tutsi groups signed a ceasefire accord, but two main Hutu groups refused to join in. In 2003 July a major rebel assault happened in Bujumbura. About 300 rebels and 15 government soldiers were killed. Thousands flee their homes. In 2003 November President Ndayizeye and Hutu rebel groups Forces for Defense of Democracy (FDD) leader Pierre Nkurunziza signed an agreement to end civil war.
About the Author Marie Van Roste was born the 20th January 2004 in Brussels, Belgium. She lived in Belgium for her first 2 years and than she moved to Istanbul, Turkey. Now she is still living in Istanbul with her mom, dad and her twin sister Alice. When they first moved to Istanbul they went to a school called “Small Hands”, when they turned 5 they went IIcs. They have been going to IICS for about 7 years now. Now Marie is 12 years old and she is in Grade 7.
Bibliography “‘Burundi Army 'Kills 500 Rebels'".” BBC News, BBC, 25 Dec. 2001, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1728305.stm
“The Conflict Between the Tutsi and Hutu.” The Conflict in Burundi, www.mtholyoke.edu/~gallo22e/classweb/website-world%20politics/burundi.html
“Heavy Shelling in Burundi Capital.” BBC News, BBC, 18 Apr. 2008, https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7354005.stm
“Hutu.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://global.britannica.com/topic/hutu
“Tutsi.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://global.britannica.com/topic/tutsi News, BBC. "Burundi Profile - Timeline." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13087604>. Van Roste, Marie, and Aurelie Ramboux. “Burundi Civil War.” 27 Oct. 2016.