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- Oct 16, 2014
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By Esdras Ndikumana 3 hours ago
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Bujumbura (Burundi) (AFP) - Once asymbol of ethnic unity in post-civil war Burundi, the army is now deeplydivided and faces a growing climate of fear after a failed coup by generals inthe central African nation.
Burundi was plunged into crisis whenPresident Pierre Nkurunziza announced a controversial bid for a third term inApril, leading to deadly street protests and an attempted coup in mid-May,which laid bare political splits within the military.
Coup leader General GodefroidNiyombare is now on the run, Defence Minister Cyrille Ndayirukiye has beenarrested and hundreds of other alleged coup plotters are absconding or in jail.
Officers now fear the army is beingpurged along ethnic lines.
"I cannot sleep, I cannot eat,I almost fled the country several times," said one senior officer,speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that he has twice evaded arrest.
The officer is a former member ofthe pre-civil war army, the FAB, which was dominated by ethnic Tutsis andpitted against a host of Hutu rebel groups in the 1993-2006 civil war.
A soldier stands in front of a houseset afire by protestors opposed to the Burundian president'
Officers are worried that Tutsiex-FAB members are now being specifically purged, targeted on the pretext thatthey were complicit in the attempted putsch.
"No soldier of the former FAB,from private to general, feels safe," said the officer, despite the factthat both Hutus and Tutsis are among the alleged coup plotters on the run or injail.
Coup leader Niyombare -- whorelatives and intelligence sources say has sought refuge elsewhere in theregion -- is a Hutu, who fought alongside President Nkurunziza in the CNDD-FDDHutu rebel group that is now the ruling party.
About 150 members of the 11thBattalion, accused of spearheading May's coup attempt, are in jail but sourcessay that perhaps 300 others from the same unit have absconded with theirweapons.
For two weeks, arrests have beenincreasing, with most of those detained former FAB soldiers, among them twocolonels, a major and a captain, according to the Association for theProtection of Prisoners and Detainees, which said other officers had gonemissing.
Burundi President Pierre Nkurunzizawaves from his car flanked by security forces, while leaving an
"We, the former FAB, are theonly ones targeted, while those from the CNDD-FDD are not worried," saidanother officer, referring to the president's party.
- 'Destroying integration' -
The ethnic parity of the army --made up of equal numbers of Hutu and Tutsi in a country where the population is85 percent Hutu -- is considered a fundamental achievement of peace and aguarantee of stability.
The wounds inflicted on the army bythe political crisis will be slow to heal and the consequences for Burundicould be explosive.
Army spokesman Gaspard Baratuzainsisted that "only those who are suspected of involvement in theattempted coup are arrested".
Police stand guard during ademonstration against the Burundian president's controversial bid fo
But an outside analyst dismissed theclaim with a stark warning over the growing divisions.
"The regime is destroying oneof Nkurunziza's greatest achievements since taking office: the integration offormer Hutu rebels and Tutsi ex-soldiers," the unnamed analyst said.
Former defence minister PontienGaciyubwenge, an ex-FAB Tutsi general, proclaimed his neutrality during thecoup and was sacked soon afterwards, and then fled abroad.
His chief of staff Prime Niyongabo,a former Hutu rebel of the CNDD-FDD, had urged him to join the side of thepolice in opposing the coup and the anti-third term protests.
Nearly 40 people have been killed indemonstrations in the capital Bujumbura since Nkurunziza announced his bid fora third term -- but another officer warned things could get far worse iftensions in the army were not resolved.
"The day they really divide thearmy, it will not be like these protests we have experienced," the officersaid.
"That will be the end ofBurundi as a nation."
