Political party and rebel group in Burundi
The
National Forces of Liberation
(
French
:
Forces nationales de liberation
, or FNL) is a political party and former rebel group in
Burundi
. An
ethnic Hutu
group, the party was previously known as the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People (
Parti pour la liberation du peuple Hutu
, or PALIPEHUTU) and adhered to a radical
Hutu Power
ideology, but since the mid- to late-2000s has moderated its stance and cooperated with the
Tutsi
-supported
Union for National Progress
party in opposition to the rule of
Pierre Nkurunziza
and the
CNDD-FDD
.
PALIPEHUTU was a participant in the
Burundian Civil War
. Its armed wing was the National Forces of Liberation (
Forces nationales de liberation
, or FNL). It was led by
Agathon Rwasa
and was estimated to have around 3,000 combatants.
[1]
A dissident wing is led by Jean Bosco Sindayigaya.
[1]
Formation
[
edit
]
PALIPEHUTU was founded in 1980 in refugee camps in
Tanzania
, where
Hutus
had fled following persecution by the
Tutsi
-led government.
[2]
PALIPEHUTU advocated armed struggle and established its armed wing, the FNL, in 1985. The
National Liberation Front
(FROLINA) split from PALIPEHUTU in 1990, and the armed wing PALIPEHUTU-FNL, led by
Cossan Kabura
split from the political wing of PALIPEHUTU in 1991. The political wing of PALIPEHUTU was renamed the
Party for the Liberation of People-Agakiza
and is led by Etienne Karatasi. In 2002 PALIPEHUTU-FNL split into two factions, one led by Kabura and one by
Agathon Rwasa
.
Generally, PALIPEHUTU's support comes more from the central region of
Muramvya
and
Lake Tanganyika
, whereas the main Hutu political party
CNDD
derives its support from the southern
Bururi
region.
[3]
Civil war
[
edit
]
During the civil war, PALIPEHUTU-FNL was linked to the killing of Monsignor
Michael Courtney
,
[4]
the
Catholic Church
's chief representative in Burundi, the
Titanic Express massacre
and the
Gatumba
massacre in which over 150
Banyamulenge
Congolese
refugees were killed.
PALIPEHUTU also fought in the
Second Congo War
alongside the Congolese army, the
Army for the Liberation of Rwanda
and the
Mai-Mai
against the Burundian army.
[2]
Following the Gatumba massacre
[
clarification needed
]
, the Great Lakes Peace Initiative
[
clarification needed
]
declared PALIPEHUTU-FNL to be a terrorist organisation, and the South African President,
Thabo Mbeki
called on the
International Criminal Court
to prosecute.
[5]
PALIPEHUTU-FNL was the last Hutu rebel group to sign an agreement with the Burundi government, which it did in September 2006
[6]
Further agreements led to a final agreement in December 2008, according to which it also changed its name to remove "PALIPEHUTU" to leave only "FNL" as its name (as Burundian political parties may not refer to ethnicities in their names).
[7]
Wikinews has related news:
On May 15, 2009,
UNICEF
reported that 136 ex-FNL
child soldiers
returned to their communities in Burundi.
[8]
Party emblem
[
edit
]
The party's emblem a bent bow and an arrow placed between a hoe and a hammer. The party's flag is red with the centre inscribed with the emblem of the party in black. Red symbolizes the suffering endured by the people of Burundi. The bent bow and the arrow symbolize the struggle for the fundamental rights and liberties. The hoe and the hammer, whose handles converges, symbolize the commitment in unity to agricultural and industrial development, respectively. Green symbolizes the hope to set up peace, justice and democracy in Burundi.
[9]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
AU Peace & Security Council Report
Archived
2007-09-27 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Peace and Security Council
, 2006-11-09
- ^
a
b
Palipehutu-FNL Conflict Database
,
Uppsala University
- ^
PALIPEHUTU & FNL
,
Global Security
- ^
Assassination of Apostolic Nuncio blamed on FNL/Palipehutu
,
Relief Web
, 2003-12-30
- ^
Young lions of the African Century
Archived
2007-06-20 at the
Wayback Machine
,
African National Congress
, 2004-08-26
- ^
At last Burundi, Palipehutu-FNL sign ceasefire
,
IPP Media
, 2006-09-08
- ^
Irinnews.org
- ^
Olalekan Ajia (15 May 2009).
"Burundi's last child soldiers homeward bound toward a new life"
.
UNICEF
. Gitega, Burundi
. Retrieved
20 May
2017
.
- ^
Political flags of Burundi
External links
[
edit
]