Jean-Baptiste Bagaza
Jean-Baptiste Bagaza | |
---|---|
2nd President of Burundi | |
In office 1 November 1976 – 3 September 1987 | |
Prime Minister | Édouard Nzambimana (1976–1978) |
Preceded by | Michel Micombero |
Succeeded by | Pierre Buyoya |
Personal details | |
Born | UPRONA | 29 August 1946
Spouse | Fausta Bagaza |
Children | 4 |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Burundi |
Conviction(s) | Conspiracy against former president Pierre Buyoya |
Imprisoned at | Mpanga 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
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.
Under Bagaza, a programme of economic modernization was begun to allow the emergence of
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
On 18 January 1997, Bagaza was placed under house arrest for gathering weapons for a plot against President Buyoya.
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
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Young 2010, p. 146.
- ^ a b Weinstein 1976, p. 75.
- ^ a b c d e Watt 2016, p. 41.
- ^ a b Watt 2016, p. 43.
- ^ a b Watt 2016, p. 42.
- ^ Brooke, James (4 June 1987). "Rule by Minority Persists in Burundi". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ Watt 2016, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Watt 2016, pp. 42–43.
- ^ "Former Burundi president dies in Belgium". africanews.com. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ Lansford 2017, p. 220.
- ^ "Leader of Burundi Reportedly Killed in a Coup by an Ethnic Rival". New York Times. 22 October 1993. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ "Burundi's President Killed in Coup". Africa Report. Vol. 38, no. 6. November 1993. p. 6.
- ^ a b "Burundi pays final tribute to former president Bagaza". allafrica.com. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ a b c d Lansford 2017, p. 227.
- ^ "POST TRANSITION SENATORS' LIST". senat.bi (in French). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ "The Senate composition". senat.bi (in French). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ "Burundi: Fear of ill-treatment / fear of torture". Amnesty International. 19 March 1997.
- ^ Watt 2016, p. 230.
Bibliography
- Lansford, Tom (2017). "Burundi". In Lansford, Tom (ed.). Political Handbook of the World 2016-2017. Volume 1. Thousand Oaks, California: ISBN 978-1-5063-2718-1.
- Watt, Nigel (2016) [1st pub. 2008]. Burundi: Biography of a Small African Country (Revised and updated ed.). London: C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 978-1849045094.
- Weinstein, Warren (1976). Historical Dictionary of Burundi. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810809628.
- Young, Eric (2010). "Jean-Baptiste Bagaza". In ISBN 9780195337709.