An Assessment of Post-Arusha Peace Agreement Challenges and the Current Efforts to Restore Peace in Burundi.

Abstract

Burundi seems to be treading on an uncertain ground. Although effort was made through the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement to address the ‘age-old’ animosity between Hutus and Tutsis, it is increasingly becoming clear that this has only transformed the conflict from violent to non-violent conflict, with a high incidence of degenerating into violent conflict in future unless outstanding issues in the Arusha peace Agreement are implemented. The article looks at some of the key challenges in post-Arusha Agreement Burundi and how they undermine the aspirations of the Arusha Peace Agreement to create a democratically stable and peaceful Burundian society. It also looks at attempts by various actors to address the current political crisis in Burundi. This article posits that the solution to achieve durable peace in Burundi lies firstly, in harmonizing the 2005 Burundi Constitution with the Arusha Peace Agreement of 2000; and secondly, enacting and empowering judicial and legal instruments to implement political principles and measures such as political power sharing and democratic governance.

Key words: Address, Constitution, Hutus, Peace, Peace Agreement, Peace-building, Power- sharing, Referendum, Restore, Tutsis