Browsing by Author "Sentamba, Elias"

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    Burundi: Building Democracy on an "Ethnically" Divided Society
    (Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies, Volume 6 Issue 1, 2024-08) Sentamba, Elias
    Pre-colonial Burundi was a homogeneous society: Burundians shared the same language, culture, religion, history, etc. and lived harmoniously on the same hills. This population was made up of a multitude of clans and Hutu, Tutsi, Ganwa and Twa social components of very secondary social importance. Even the monarchy reflected the various segments of such a nation. It was this harmony that Belgian colonisation definitively ruined, with the policy of divide et impera. By claiming that the Ganwa and the Tutsi were the superior races and the Hutu and Twa the inferior ones, a whole process of political and administrative manipulation ended up constructing a highly polemical ethnic identity, which fuelled the bloody conflicts of 1965, 1972, 1988, 1993-2000, etc. It was to put an end to this cycle of ethno-political violence that the Arusha Accords signed in 2000 instituted consociational democracy (on which the 2005 and 2018 constitutions were based), with ethnic quotas: 60% Hutu and 40% Tutsi for institutions such as the Government, parity of 50% for the Senate and the Defence and Security Bodies (Army and Police), etc. After showing how Belgian colonisation constructed these 'ethnic identities' and how this ethnicisation of society actually underpinned fratricidal wars, this paper analyses how democracy built on an 'ethnically' divided society still has its work cut out for it. While it seems to ensure the hoped-for appeasement in normal times, the demon of ethnic violence is no less resurgent in times of political mobilisation.
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    Burundi: Un Processus de Negociation Entre le Gouvernement et le Palipehutu-Fnl dans l'Impasse
    (Journal of African Conflflicts and Peace Studies, 2008-09) Sentamba, Elias
    Since 2005, President Nkurunziza has not kept his promise to conclude peace agreement with Palipehutu- FNL. Palipephutu has not given up its ethnist ideology since its foundation. Its fight for the hutu cause has not considered the political change since the Arusha peace agreement. This entailed many political errors which has discredited its paradigm. **Though CNDD-FDD is heading Burundian legitimate political institutions, it is still behaving as an underground movement: use of force to muzzle political opposition and internal dissidents instead of resorting to the rule of law. This illegitimacy is negatively influencing the forthcoming 2010 elections. ***These positions, so poles apart, greatly hindered the 2006 and 2007 peace agreements between the two belligerents. Is it possible to overcome this deadlock? Yes, on the condition that the two parties show their political will for peace. Henceforth, the South African mediation should devise the best way to power sharing.
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    Religion and Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy in Burundi
    (Springer Nature, 2025-10-14) Sentamba, Elias; Nsavyimana, Yves Jacket
    Faced with multifaceted challenges in the area of sexual and reproductive health, such as teenage pregnancies in schools, gender-based violence, early marriages, low adherence to family planning, very high fertility rates, among many, the Burundian government has since 2007 undertook a national reproductive health policy. The policy is based on eight components, including (to focus on what is most relevant to us): family planning, prevention and treatment of abortions, prevention and treatment of STIs and HIV/AIDS, and promotion of RH among young people and adolescents, etc. However, the implementation process of the said policy remains a challenge. The ministries in charge of health and education, respectively, advocate modern contraceptive methods and sexuality education in