June 2008

Country Context
News from Burundi over the past months has left questions as to the viability of the country’s peace process. Following the FNL’s departure from the negotiations last quarter, rule of law in the country has continued to unravel. Beyond confirmed FNL skirmishes in Cibitoke and Kabezi, both internally and against government forces, an increase in banditry, armed robbery and violence is apparent from even the most cursory look at the news in Burundi. To complicate matters, a recent report from the human rights group Ligue Iteka and Small Arms Survey claims that more than a hundred thousand small arms continue to flow into the country. The reaction both nationally and internationally has been wrought with concern, including from the UN Secretary General and the Government of South Africa, which has called the FNL “the main and last obstacle to peace.” On the political front, the formation of a new 26-member consensus government, including nine members from the opposition and conforming with the constitutional ethnic quota, has ended the almost year long political stalemate between the ruling party and the opposition. While the formation of the cabinet (the sixth since elections in 2005) was heralded by all parties, it has generated high expectations among the population, many of which remain unfulfilled. With that said, a series of recent strikes and demonstrations among civil servants, teachers, and two national unions make clear that there is still a long way to go.

SFCG Launches First Participatory Theatre Troupe in Burundi

A local community member intervening during a SFCG theatre performance in Rumonge in April.

SFCG Adds a Transitional Justice Soap Opera to its Weekly Line-up
To complement its weekly magazine and monthly community live discussion transitional justice radio programmes, SFCG launched a transitional justice soap opera in late October, broadcast on three radio stations to audiences across the country. Twelve actors, including four women, combine to bring the soap opera’s characters to life. Their roles include a taxi driver (impartial in the conflict), an accused offender who is asking for forgiveness, a second accused offender who is categorically opposed to the idea of transitional justice, and a young female victim ready to forgive. Through these characters, the radio drama has thus far focused on the origins of conflict, understanding the past, truth and forgiveness, with a particular attention to the planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Special Tribunal to accompany the establishment of these two very important transitional justice mechanisms. SFCG’s Theatre Coordinator manages the production in consultation with the Media Coordinator, who oversees all of Studio Ijambo’s productions and broadcasts.

Solidarity Festivals Help Reconcile Divided Communities in Rumonge and Nyanza-Lac
On December 19 and 20, SFCG successfully organised two solidarity events in Nyanza-Lac and Rumonge, with the participation of some 500 individuals. The festivals featured a number of different activities, including dramatic sketches performed by SFCG’s theatre troupe, speeches and interventions by members of the Land Commission (CNTB) and local administration, as well as testimonies from various residents and returnees who had resolved their land conflicts nonviolently thanks to SFCG’s work in the two communes. Most touched were the Administrator from Rumonge and the Presidents of the CNTB’s in the provinces of Makamba and Bururi, who spoke of the success of SFCG’s intervention.

“I would like to thank SFCG for its activities in Nyanza-Lac, which have already helped find solutions to land conflicts across the commune… These activities should be replicated across the country… I know this organization, and we (the CNTB) have the same mission. What I can promise is that we (SFCG and the CNTB) will continue to mutually support one another.” - Issa Ngendakumana, President of the CNTB in Makamba

“These activities in Rumonge are clear and visible, and the people present today have testified that they resolved their own conflicts thanks to (SFCG’s) activities. We wish for this work to continue.” - Ndayisaba Léopold, Administrator of Rumonge

The President of the Land Commission (CNTB) from Makamba addressing the participants in the Nyanza-Lac Solidarity Festival in December.

Overall, the two events succeeded in bringing together residents and returnees to celebrate together, understand their differences, and spend time getting to know one another in a safe, open environment.

SFCG-trained Participants Take on Key Mediation Roles in their Committees
Following its conflict resolution trainings and complementing its round tables, solidarity events and regular theatre performances, SFCG’s strategy in the return zones hinges on building the capacity of local community members to transform their own conflicts and, in many cases, engage actively to resolve conflicts in their communities. Thus far, SFCG-trained mediators in both Nyanza-Lac and in Rumonge have begun resolving land disputes between residents and returnees. Rather than stepping on any toes, their interventions are done in conjunction with and with the blessings of the Land Commission focal points in both provinces. To date, 90 residents and returnees have resolved their land conflicts (45 in total) nonviolently thanks to these facilitators’ efforts.

Coming Soon! Search for Common Ground in Rwanda
With the success of the regional youth dialogue initiative Great Lakes Generation (GLG) in 2006 and 2007, 2008 has seen SFCG finalise plans to launch it’s 18th country programme and eighth on the continent.

SFCG’s new office in Rwanda, located in the heart of Kigali.

Building on SFCG’s experiences in the DRC, Burundi, Angola and across West Africa SFCG-Rwanda’s first project builds on the GLG initiative to launch a complementary, youth-focused and youth-produced radio magazine targeted at youth ages 14-20. In planning out the modalities of this new programme, SFCG took into account both the realities of the media landscape in Rwanda, as well as the ongoing NGO and radio initiatives currently undertaken, before deciding on a new approach to youth radio. This new approach will feature an all-girls team of youth presenters, tapping into the gender aspect in Rwanda, which is both current and pertinent, as well as slightly controversial. The approach will allow the programme to tap into a host of existing gender initiatives and women and girls’ empowerment programmes within the present development framework in Rwanda.

Based on initial discussions, the girls talk show should be very well received in Rwanda, particularly by the authorities, as women and girls promotion is a priority for the Rwandan government. The planned youth team will include four or five girls (14-20), including a girl head of household, a former refugee or displaced person, an artist, as well as other interesting and representative profiles.

Regional Cross-fertilization: a New Step for SFCG’s Participatory Theatre in the Great Lakes
Following the successful launch of SFCG’s first participatory theatre troupe in Burundi and fourth in the region, SFCG’s Burundi Theatre Coordinator called on his counterpart in Bukavu, DRC to spend a week to build the capacity of the newly formed troupe and share his team’s experiences from the return zones in north Katanga and South Kivu. SFCG’s DRC Theatre Coordinator worked with the individual Burundi actors to help fine-tune their theatre skills, while working with the full group to improve on their approach and bring out the core conflict transformation message that has been the hallmark of SFCG’s regional approach to repatriation.

Following the February training, the Burundi Coordinator and Head of the Theatre troupe were invited to join the DRC Coordinator and some 30 of SFCG-DRC’s actors for a four-day planning and evaluation session in Uvira, DRC to further benefit from SFCG’s theatre experience on the other side of Lake Tanganyika. At the same time, SFCG has finalised its participatory theatre for conflict transformation manual, which will be available shortly on SFCG’s website.

Regional Repatriation Baseline Study Finalised

SFCG Media Coordinator explains the mass information project to the director of Radio Kwizera

Also in February, four of SFCG’s programmes from its Bukavu and Bujumbura studios began airing on Radio Kwizera in Tanzania, which reaches into the refugee camps in both northern Burundi and Tanzania, transferring the weekly programs through an innovative FTP transfer partnership. Kwizera’s involvement in the project will be the first of many collaborations between SFCG and the station hoping to become the radio station for the Great Lakes.

SFCG awarded US State Department’s Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy