Burundi’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission: How to Shed Light on the Past while Standing in the Dark Shadow of Politics?

摘要

More than a decade after the signature of the 2000 Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, which announced the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms in Burundi, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is about to be launched. This note highlights how political factors and dynamics related to the peace process and to the 2010 general elections explain the timing as well as elements of the proposed mandate and composition of the forthcoming TRC. There is reason to fear that the dominant party’s attempts at controlling the TRC process, in addition to the context of increased insecurity, or possibly even of renewed armed insurgency, may undermine the Commission’s ability to shed light on the past.