Topic: Situation in Burundi
Country: France
Delegate Name: Charlie Buckley
School: Williamston High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All France position papers GLIMUN 2016 committees
The current situation in Burundi is deteriorating hour by hour, and death by death. Since 2010 Pierre Nkurunziza has slowly been moving toward a more centralized and arbitrarily strict rule. However, nothing quite compares to when in April 2015 he announced that he would be running for a third term, despite the clear constitutional barrier ahead of him. In order to legally be allowed to run again, the country's constitutional court had to rule on the matter, and the ruling was technically unanimously in favor of letting him run again. However, this is among reports of threats from the opposition, along with judges and their families reportedly being intimidated by high ranking government officials close to Pierre. Although they tried to hold out, Pierre's friends got the message across, and four of the seven original judges fled the country with the remaining three having no choice but to accept the president's “request” for a third term. Although the federal government denies the allegations, four judges are still in hiding. As a result of all of this, massive protests broke out in the Burundian capital of Bujumbura over the clear cut unconstitutionality of this entire matter. The people seem to have echoed a fear in the government as well, because soon there after the protests first started, a coup among high military and government officials broke out. Although it failed the situation in Burundi is still very fragile, and fighting continues with assassinations being rampant, and extrajudicial killings becoming more and more widespread. The conflict has already killed several thousands, and has displaced hundreds of thousands more, affecting the surrounds regions as well as Burundi itself.
Burundi, like many former colonies, has been unable to ward off instability and corruption among mounting pressures from the international, as well as domestic communities. France sees this issue among many of its former colonies, despite Burundi in particular being a former Belgian colony; the issues tend to be the same. The current “president”, despite his reasons, either selfish or selfless, is setting a dangerous precedent for all future presidents of the Republic of Burundi. France also sees this issue as one which will not only destabilize Burundi, but the surrounding regions as well. This will most likely come in the form of refugees, along with armed conflict which will seep over the border into neighboring countries. France would like to see Burundi prosper not only economically, but also politically as democratic elections are a work of beauty once done fairly and regularly. However, for them to be done fairly, rules must be followed, and he has broken a clear rule.
France sees a lot of potential solutions to this problem, however they all stem from the same idea, the international community has to help Burundi help itself in the most independent way possible while still actively pushing change. This is made difficult by the fact that the current “president” has made it very clear that he is not willing to cooperate with the international community in regards to helping stabilize the already rapidly deteriorating situation in the country. France strongly expects the support of other western nations.
