Most national and international observers perceive recent political developments in Burundi (Nkurunziza’s third term as head of state, constitutional reforms in 2018, presidential elections process in 2020) as a violation of the Arusha Peace Agreement signed in 2000, which was the cornerstone of the Burundian peace process. This article discusses the normative approach often adopted to evaluate the success or failure of the Arusha Agreement through an analysis of the variance between stipulations of the agreement and the reality on the ground. By mobilising intermedial interpretations of peace success, we proffer that the Arusha Agreement should be seen as a key moment in a dynamic process marked by power relations. Using a case of returnee land rights, we show that in actuality, the provisions of the Arusha Agreement were never fully implemented; revealing the real element that shaped the domain of returnee land in Burundi: power relations that express actors’ interests.
BirantamijeJ. (2018). Crise politique au Burundi: Vers des forces de sécurité (re)politiseées après une deécennie de “success story.” [Political crisis in Burundi : towards a (re)politicised security force after a decade of « sucess story”]. In AnsomsA.NyenyeziB. A.VandeginstS. (Eds.), Conjonctures de l’Afrique centrale 2018, Cahiers Africaines n. 89. L’Harmattan.
2.
Burundi. (2000). Accord d’Arusha pour la paix et la réconciliation au Burundi, 28 août 2000 (Annexe IV, Rapport de la Commission IV, Chapitre 1: Reconstruction et développement, point 2, al. E). http://www.senat.bi/documents/Accord_Arusha.pdf
3.
Burundi. (2000). Accord d’Arusha pour la paix et la réconciliation au Burundi, 28 août 2000 [Arusha agreements for peace and reconciliation in Burundi]. Annexe IV, Rapport de la Commission IV, Chapitre 1: Reconstruction et développement, point 2, al. E.
4.
Burundi. (2008). Commission Nationale des Terres et Autres Biens, État des lieux des problèmes fonciers burundais (Communication à l’Atelier national de présentation de l’étude sur la problématique foncière et les solutions alternatives face aux défis de la réintégration des sinistrés, du 24 au 25 septembre).
5.
Burundi. (2010). Commission Nationale des Terres et autres Biens (CNTB), Organisation et activité 2006-2010. Bujumbura.
6.
BuyoyaP. (2011). Les négociations interburundaises, La longue marche vers la paix[The interburundian negociations. The long march towards peace]. L’Harmattan.
7.
CallC. T. (2008). The fallacy of the “failed state.”Third World Quarterly, 29(8), 1491–1507.
8.
ChandlerD. (2018). Peacebuilding. The twenty years’ crisis, 1997-2017. Palgrave Macmillan.
9.
CleaverF. (2012). Development through bricolage: Rethinking institutions for natural resources management (p. 2019). Routledge.
10.
CurtisD. (2013). The international peacebuilding paradox: Power sharing and post-conflict governance in Burundi. African Affairs, 112(446), 72–91.
11.
CurtisD.DzinesaG. (2012). Peacebuilding, power and politics in Africa. Ohio University Press.
12.
HagmannT.PeclardD. (2010). Negotiating statehood: Dynamics of power and domination in Africa. Development and Change, 41(4), 539–562.
13.
LarrueJ.-M. L. (2016). The “in-between” of What? Intermedial perspectives on the concept of borders/boundaries. Digital Studies/Le champ numérique, 5(3).
14.
LundC. (2016). Rule and rupture. State formation through the production of property and citizenship. Development and Change, 47(6), 1199–1228.
MéchoulanE. (2003). Intermédialités: Le temps des illusions perdues [Intermedialities. The time of lost illusions]. Intermédialités, 1, 9–28.
17.
MerxS. (2013). From “in-between” to “node”: Shifting conceptions of intermediality [Conference lecture]. Utrecht University Repository.
18.
NindoreraE. (2005, February3). Le défi de l’impunité et les mécanismes de justice transitionnelle. Ngozi.
19.
NindoreraW. P. (2012). Le CNDD-FDD au Burundi. Le cheminement de la lutte armée au combat politique. Berghof Foundation.
20.
NiyonkuruR. C.NyenyeziB. A. (2018). Chronique politique du Burundi [Political chronicle of Burundi]. In ReyntjensF. (Ed.), Chronique politique de l’Afrique des Grands Lacs 2017 (pp. 9–38). University Press Antwerp.
21.
NyenyeziB. A. (2016). Invention de la terre et production des anormaux dans le dispositif foncier en Afrique1 [Invention of land and production of freaks within the land apparatus in Africa]. Pouvoir et résistance à l’accaparement des terres en Afrique des Grands Lacs[Power and landgrabbing resistance in the African Great Lakes]. Universiteé catholique de Louvain, Collection de thèses de l’Université catholique de Louvain [PhD en Sciences Politiques et Sociales].
22.
RajewskyI. O. (2010). Border talks: The problematic status of media borders in the current debate about intermediality. In ElleströmL. (Ed.), Media borders, multimodality and intermediality. Palgrave Macmillan.
SikorT.LundC. (2009). Access and property: A question of power and authority, Development and Change, 40, 1–22.
25.
Van AckerT. (2018). From bullets to ballots and back? Arenas, actors and repertoires of power in post-war Burundi [Doctoral thesis]. Ghent University.
26.
VandeginsteS. (2009a). Law as a source and instrument of transitional justice in Burundi [Doctoral thesis]. Law, Antwerp University.
27.
VandeginsteS. (2009b). Power-sharing, conflict, and transition in Burundi: Twenty years of trial and error. Africa Spectrum, 44(3), 63–86.
28.
VandeginsteS. (2010). Stones left unturned: Law and transitional justice in Burundi (p. 4). Intersentia, Series on Transitional Justice.
29.
WilénN.BirantamijeG.AmbrosettiD. (2017). The Burundian army’s trajectory to professionalization and depoliticization, and back again. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 12(1), 120–135.
