Searching for Peace & Healing in Burundi

by Michael Lapsley

"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 ethnic identity?

We came from the Institute for the 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 combated a crime against humanity.

The night before travelling to Burundi I took a look at what the internationally-renowned tourist guide Lonely Planet had to say about Burundi. The one-page description was quite chilling, although already dated with recent new victories in the process of its peace negotiations.

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

We arrived in Bujumbura on October 15th. Just a few days earlier, a peace deal was signed in Pretoria, South Africa between the Government of Burundi and one of the major rebel movements. There had been an earlier peace deal facilitated by our own 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 the Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS). This is an initiative, begun a couple of years ago under the auspices of the Friends community, with links to Quakers in other parts of the world. Headquartered in the capital of 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.

Back in 1998 we had visited Rwanda . . . 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 had favoured one ethnic group over another.

Back in 1998 we had visited Rwanda and shared our experiences with one another. As I understood it, there are some parallels between the situations in Rwanda and Burundi, including a similar ethnic mix, intergenerational conflict, and a 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 had favoured one ethnic group over another. Just as in South Africa "race" is the determinant factor, so it is "ethnicity" in Burundi.   

A number of South African soldiers were milling around at the airport. Our country is a key role player in the attempts to end the conflict. The South African press had been reporting that there had been fighting on the outskirts of the capital for some time.

Our workshop began the night after our arrival. We were told that, for cultural reasons, Burundians find it difficult to express their feelings. Our previous experiences 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 evaluations of the workshop were quite encouraging, which included:

• the workshop enabled me to review my whole life and face issues from the past that I have been avoiding.
• different ethnic groups can share together how they have been affected.
• the workshop made me realise that I am not alone in the pain I experience.
• 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.
• the process offered more healing than any medicine.
• it has been inspiring for me as a soldier.

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 other Protestants. It seems like Nelson Mandela had managed to get politicians around the table before a rather boastful U.S. evangelist managed to get the Christians to pray together!

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 its part in implementing the peace accord.

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 its 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 its funding.) 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 Burundi's 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 commonplace and numbered among the highest in the world. I asserted that Burundi will be a better place when the death penalty is abolished and the Burundian state removes its 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 Burundi's president in 1993 . . . I recalled how in South Africa we had taken a public holiday that had been used to celebrate racial supremacy (December 16), and made it a day of national reconciliation.

My presentation took place on the eve of a public holiday commemorating the assassination of Burundi's president 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 that had been used to celebrate racial supremacy (December 16), and made it 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.

Our last event was a presentation to a group of university students on "The Power of Forgiveness." I spoke about the concept of "bicycle theology." This addresses how "forgiveness" is reduced to "saying sorry," and how we fail to return the "stolen bicycle" (i.e., how reparations and restitution are part of the journey of forgiveness).

At the end of my presentation, I was asked if, since I had belonged during the anti-Apartheid era to the African National Congress (ANC), I was in support of a 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; [then beginning about 1960] it fought an armed struggle for 30 years, and then 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 will be needed for all Burundians. How proud I am, especially given our history, that the South African army is now in Burundi as peacekeepers.

"It is impossible in Burundi," I was later told, 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 there will need to be forms of reparations and restitution. This is considered complex, since one ethnic group had historically been advantaged.

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 Christian theology and discipleship as it has been proclaimed and lived across the Christian spectrum.

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 Christian 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 and 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 Bujumbura, 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. 

On my way to the airport, I 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. 

The Rev. Michael Lapsley, S.S.M. is director of The Institute for the Healing of Memories in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a regular contributor to "A Globe of Witnesses," and may be reached by email at info@healingofmemories.co.za

Related Links:

Pray for Burundi: Bujumbura Under Attack by Bishop Pie Ntumakazina. (A July 2003 report from the Anglican Bishop of Buhumbura on the warfare and violence in the nation's capital city.)