Burundi

PLAGUED FOR OVER 10 years by an unstable government and intermittent civil war, Burundi is one of the poorest nations in the world. Burundi is the second most densely populated country in sub-Saharan Africa, with over half its population living on less than $1 per day. Agriculture, which supports 90 percent of the population on the basis of subsistence, has faltered in recent years as a result of overpopulation, soil erosion, and armed conflict, causing a rise in poverty levels.

The most pervasive factor stifling Burundi's economy is the nationwide instability caused by a controversial ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi groups. The diversification of separate ethnic groups and their eventual disparity were instilled by colonizers who deemed Tutsi individual's more apt to manage the majority population of Hutu workers. From the start, the so-called ethnic tensions felt in Burundi and neighboring Rwanda were a type of abstracted class system that has continued to have far-reaching economic consequences.

Burundi's poverty was exacerbated by ethnic conflict and refugees. Above, refugees line up vessels to collect foreign aid food.

Since the inception of full independence in Burundi in 1962, the political parties have been divided according to these “ethnic” categories and both groups have been enmeshed in a bitter competition for power. Minority Tutsi parties have for the most part remained in control of the government and the military, and have violently objected whenever popularly elected Hutu parties have taken power in failed attempts at democratic government. Their Hutu counterparts have responded in kind, protesting Tutsi rule.

Under the influence of rampant bigotry, the bifurcated Burundian polity, which has undergone four successful coups and multiple ethnic cleansings in the past 40 years, has failed to maintain the infrastructure necessary for a functional economy. It was on this unstable basis that Hutu-Tutsi relations reached a boiling point in the early 1990s, when the Hutu leaders of both Burundi and Rwanda were assassinated, plunging both countries into civil war. Since then, peace has been a fleeting reality in Burundi. Even in the wake of the 2001 inauguration of a provisional government, armed opposition has persisted.

The current state of impoverishment in Burundi is a direct result of the civil conflicts that have ravaged the small nation for over a decade. Hundreds of thousands of Burundi's agriculturist population have been displaced within Burundi, and some have fled into neighboring countries because of political violence in recent years, effectively squandering their livelihood. These [Page 99]displaced persons cause an overwhelming strain on the already overpopulated areas in which they seek refuge, tipping the balance of already tenuous social and economic systems.

Burundian communities, which are not equipped to produce surplus food, face famine when refugees from bordering regions augment their populations. The uncultivated land left behind in turmoil quickly declines, and when unplanted, becomes susceptible to severe erosion. Leadership by waves of military forces has seen much of the country's available resources squandered on the war effort, while the attendant social services have suffered. Access to clean water and medical care, which waned considerably during the later years of the civil war as a result of structural instability, has not helped to alleviate the high incidence of poverty in the country.

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