Jean-Baptiste Bagaza

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Jean-Baptiste Bagaza
Bagaza in 1978
2nd President of Burundi
In office
1 November 1976 – 3 September 1987
Prime MinisterÉdouard Nzambimana (1976‍–‍1978)
Preceded byMichel Micombero
Succeeded byPierre Buyoya
Personal details
Born(1946-08-29)29 August 1946
UPRONA
  • PARENA
  • SpouseFausta Bagaza
    Children4
    Military service
    AllegianceBurundi
    Conviction(s)Conspiracy against former president Pierre Buyoya
    Imprisoned atMpanga Prison (1997)

    Jean-Baptiste Bagaza (29 August 1946 – 4 May 2016) was a Burundian army officer and politician who ruled Burundi as president and de facto military dictator from November 1976 to September 1987.

    Born into the Tutsi ethnic group in 1946, Bagaza served in the Burundian military and rose through the ranks under the rule of Michel Micombero after his rise to power in 1966. Bagaza deposed Micombero in a bloodless coup d'état in 1976 and took power himself as head of the ruling Union for National Progress (Union pour le Progrès national, UPRONA). Despite having participated in the genocidal killings of 1972, he introduced various reforms which modernised the state and made concessions to the country's ethnic Hutu majority. His regime became increasingly repressive after it became consolidated in 1984, especially targeting the powerful Catholic Church. His rule lasted until 1987 when his regime was overthrown in a further coup d'état and he was forced into exile. He returned to Burundi in 1994 and became involved in national politics as the leader of the Party for National Recovery (Parti pour le Redressement National, PARENA). He died in 2016.

    Biography

    Early life and military career

    Bagaza was born in

    Catholic schools in Bujumbura, he enlisted in the army of the newly independent Kingdom of Burundi. He was sent to Belgium in 1966 where he studied at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels until 1971.[3] He earned a sociology degree.[2] He returned to Burundi in 1972. Bagaza was involved in President Michel Micombero's genocidal killings of ethnic Hutu in 1972,[3] though the "extent or nature of his involvement" remain unclear.[1] In May he was, at the rank of captain, appointed adjunct chief of staff of the Burundian military in charge of logistics—largely because of his family's connections to the Micombero, replacing purged Hutu officer Martin Ndayahoze.[3][4] In November he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and made chief of the general staff. In May 1975 he was appointed to the Chamber of Accounts under the Supreme Court.[4]

    Dictatorship

    Bagaza overthrew Micombero in a military coup on 1 November 1976.[1] The constitution was temporarily suspended by a military junta, the 30-member Supreme Revolutionary Council, which declared Bagaza president on 10 November 1976.[3] He was thirty at the time.[2] Bagaza initiated a number of reforms after taking power, attacking corruption and making modest reforms to improve conditions for Hutus who had been targeted under the Micombero regime.[3] He reformed taxation and the administration.[5] He earned respect for his work ethic, as he "drove himself to work at 7:30 a.m. each day" instead of travelling in large cavalcades as most regional politicians did at the time.[2] Some Hutu refugees were allowed to return from exile in Zaire and Tanzania where they had fled during the genocide.[3] Bagaza granted a few government posts to Hutu,[2] appointing two Hutu ministers in his first cabinet.[1] Burundi's feudal system of land tenure, known as the Ubugererwa, was abolished in 1977.[3][6] Some Tutsi-held land was transferred to Hutu farmers.[2] The end of the Ubugererwa as well as the abolition of the ikori poll tax earned Bagaza much goodwill among Hutus.[6]

    Officially, Bagaza attempted to address the country's ethnic tensions by banning all mention of ethnicity, declaring that everyone was just Burundian or, more broadly, African. Researcher Nigel Watt argued that this move was just disguising the continued dominance of the Tutsi elite.

    PALIPEHUTU party and militant group.[7]

    Under Bagaza, a programme of economic modernization was begun to allow the emergence of

    hydroelectric dams which still form the basis for Burundi's energy infrastructure.[3] He also initiated road building programs, expanded the availability of drinking water, and developed a port on Lake Tanganyika. His infrastructure investments helped to shape Burundi's export ecenomy which came to rely on coffee, tea and sugar.[1] Internationally, Bagaza successfully maneuvered between different political factions, securing economic aid from the Western Bloc, the Eastern Bloc, China, and the Arab world.[1][2][5] He expelled the large Congolese migrant community from Burundi, claiming that they had just decided to leave on their own.[5]

    Location of Burundi in Central Africa.

    Bagaza's regime introduced a new national constitution in 1981 which consolidated Burundi as a one-party dictatorship under the Union for National Progress (Union pour le Progrès national, UPRONA), which he re-organised under his own leadership. In the election of 1984, he was re-elected president with 99.6 percent of the national vote.[8] After the election, Bagaza organized a military operation against the Catholic Church in Burundi,[3] regarding it as a threat to his power. The Church was increasingly targeted as the regime became increasingly repressive. Foreign missionaries were expelled and attempts were made to break its influence over the public and education. Bagaza banned Catholic media and church services, closed Church-run literacy centers, nationalized Church-run schools, and ordered the arrest and torture of Church figures. He ordered the closure of 87 churches, including Gitega Cathedral.[2][9] Protestant media was also targeted.[5] He also tried to implement other "eccentricities" such as restricting bar openings and officially limiting the time as well as money Burundians were allowed to spend for traditional betrothal and mourning ceremonies.[1][7] Bob Krueger argued that these policies ultimately alienated too many Burundians and led to Bagaza's deposition,[1] a view shared by Watt.[10]

    Deposition and involvement in democratic politics

    A

    senator for life as a former head of state.[17][18] At the time, Bagaza was known for his extreme views, including general opposition to any power-sharing agreements with Hutu factions such as the Front for Democracy in Burundi (Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi, FRODEBU). He eventually began to advocate the division of Burundi into a "Tutsiland" and a "Hutuland".[16]

    On 18 January 1997, Bagaza was placed under house arrest for gathering weapons for a plot against President Buyoya.

    2015 elections.[16] When major unrest erupted in the country in the period leading up to the 2015 election, Bagaza and the other three still-living ex-presidents called for an international intervention.[20]

    Bagaza died in Brussels, Belgium on 4 May 2016 at the age of 69 of natural causes and was buried in Bujumbura on 17 May 2016.[2][15] He was survived by his wife Fausta and four daughters.[1]

    References

    1. ^
      ISSN 0362-4331
      . Retrieved 4 May 2016.
    2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Langer, Emily (5 May 2016). "Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, ousted Burundian president, dies at 69". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
    3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Young 2010, p. 146.
    4. ^ a b Weinstein 1976, p. 75.
    5. ^ a b c d e Watt 2016, p. 41.
    6. ^ a b Watt 2016, p. 43.
    7. ^ a b Watt 2016, p. 42.
    8. ^ Brooke, James (4 June 1987). "Rule by Minority Persists in Burundi". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
    9. ^ Watt 2016, pp. 41–42.
    10. ^ Watt 2016, pp. 42–43.
    11. ^ "Former Burundi president dies in Belgium". africanews.com. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
    12. ^ Lansford 2017, p. 220.
    13. ^ "Leader of Burundi Reportedly Killed in a Coup by an Ethnic Rival". New York Times. 22 October 1993. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
    14. ^ "Burundi's President Killed in Coup". Africa Report. Vol. 38, no. 6. November 1993. p. 6.
    15. ^ a b "Burundi pays final tribute to former president Bagaza". allafrica.com. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
    16. ^ a b c d Lansford 2017, p. 227.
    17. ^ "POST TRANSITION SENATORS' LIST". senat.bi (in French). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
    18. ^ "The Senate composition". senat.bi (in French). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
    19. ^ "Burundi: Fear of ill-treatment / fear of torture". Amnesty International. 19 March 1997.
    20. ^ Watt 2016, p. 230.

    Bibliography

    Political offices
    Preceded by President of Burundi
    1976–1987
    Succeeded by