Burundi Leaders Beg U.N. for Help as Genocide Threat Looms

Fearing genocide, two former presidents of Burundi implore the United Nations to send peace deployments as ethnic tensions reach a boiling point, according to Reuters. The violence stems from current President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision in April to run for a third term beyond his official limit, causing civil strife that has taken the lives of over 400 people thus far.

Fearing genocide, two former presidents of Burundi implore the United Nations to send peace deployments as ethnic tensions reach a boiling point, according to Reuters. The violence stems from current President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision in April to run for a third term beyond his official limit, causing civil strife that has taken the lives of over 400 people thus far.

Officials maintain that the escalating violence stems from political turmoil rather than ethnic tension, but the lines have become increasingly blurred. Nkurunziza’s third-term election last July was the spark that lit up the entire country, and the president does not realize he is doing more harm than good by staying in power. He vowed to fight any peacekeeping forces, while rebels are receptive to the idea, but outside interference may become necessary, as genocide seems more likely by the day.

Burundi sustained a 12-year civil war that ended in 2005, where the Tutsi-based government led incursions against Hutu rebels. The Tutsi-Hutu conflict took the lives of over 800,000 Hutu and Tutsi lives in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, and the international community fears Burundi could follow the same trajectory.

Economic Plight

According to the International Monetary Fund, the East African nation’s economy contracted 7.0 percent in 2015, which does not bode well for a country where 70 percent of the population lives on subsistence farming. Burundi has a skeletal manufacturing base, and most of the economy is centered on agriculture. The country possesses precious natural resources, but it is one of the poorest nations on the planet, and the economy is not diversified enough to withstand bouts of turbulence.

In the nation’s capital, Bujumbura, crop prices have soared due to vast shortages, and the instability prevents more people from gaining access to market goods. One example is the onion, which doubled in value since 2015, making it harder for already struggling families to feed themselves, notes the Canadian Press. Further, many Burundians suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and many do not have the means to get to a hospital, especially as the streets grow unsafe. Moreover, farmers and business owners are leaving the country, causing the government to lose half of its tax base in under a year.

Dwindling Foreign Aid

Donor nations are withdrawing financial support in light of the violence, which may spell the country’s downfall. Belgium, a former colonizer of Burundi, suspended aid because of the conflict, but the primary problem is that foreign money finances most of Burundi’s infrastructure projects. Because of the aid cuts, the government issued a budget that cuts 16 percent of spending, and officials expect half of their aid money to disappear in 2016.