Burundi
Dubious coup attempt in Burundi

afrol News, 23 April - Almost a week after the coup attempt in Burundi, questions about what really happened still remain unanswered. The 40 dissident officers from the Tutsi-dominated army, opposed to President Pierre Buyoya's negotiations with Hutu rebels, are still under military custody for further interrogations. 

On Wednesday 18 April, at least 40 government soldiers led by Lieutenant Pasteur Ntarutimana, a commander that is responsible for protecting the airport, invaded the Burundi Radio Station before announcing that President Buyoya's government was overthrown. The president was however abroad (in Libreville, Gabon).

The coup attempt went along with little drama and without bloodshed. Forces loyal to the president quickly surrounded the Bujumbura radio station, but the army decided not to storm it, opting instead to wait. Within short, all 40 mutineers surrendered to the government forces. 

The undramatic event, where not one government soldier was killed or injured, promptly gave rise to speculations in Bujumbura that the whole coup attempt had been staged. The reasons given were mainly the falling popularity of President Buyoya. 

In a telephone interview today with the Tanzanian newspaper The Guardian, the top leader of the Front pour la Liberation Nationale (FROLINA), Joseph Karumba, repeated these allegations. FROLINA is a Hutu based armed rebel group, fighting Buyoya's Tutsi dominated government. 

Karumba told The Guardian it was "unbelievable to note that there was neither a single killing nor injury when government soldiers encountered the mutineers during the attempted coup." He said, "A serious coup d'état could have been 100 per cent direct confrontation between mutineers and government soldiers loyal to the President."

- Historically, if those 40 mutineers arrested by Bujumbura soldiers were Hutus, they were to be executed within two days. But, by being Tutsi soldiers, we are now told interrogations are still on, the FROLINA top boss said. He maintained, "What happened was an attempt to hood wink the international community."

The bottom line in the coup attempt has been political disputes over the Arusha Peace Agreement signed last August by 19 parties in the Burundi's seven-year civil war, which however not has brought peace to Burundi. The accord was rejected by the two most active armed opposition groups, including Karumba's FROLINA. 

During the attempted coup, President Buyoya was in Libreville, holding talks with Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye, leader of the other armed Hutu group.

According to the Tutsi coup makers' radio announcement, they felt Buyoya's government was giving too many concessions to the armed Hutu groups. The group stated that they did not reject the Arusha peace negotiations but those who were representing them in the negotiations. 

FROLINA leader Karumba sees this as a signal from the Tutsis to the international community that the Bujumbura government should not give into Hutu claims. 

President Buyoya, himself rising to power through a coup d'état, has been seen somewhat as a hardliner in the country's armed conflict, but still has had to balance between moderate Hutus and Tutsis and radical Tutsis in Bujumbura politics.

Sources: The Guardian, Amnesty and afrol archives

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