Jean-Baptiste Bagaza

Bagaza was born in Rutovu, Bururi Province in Belgian-ruled Ruanda-Urundi on 29 August 1946. His family were ethnic Hima, part of the wider Tutsi ethnic group.[2][3] After studying 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]

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 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] Some Tutsi-held land was transferred to Hutu farmers.[2] However, Bagaza ensured that the Tutsi remained economically and politically dominant.[3]

A programme of economic modernization was begun to allow the emergence of small-scale capitalist agriculture, involving the construction of two new 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]

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.[5] 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, and ordered the arrest and torture of Church figures.[2] 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. Bob Krueger argued that these policies ultimately alienated too many Burundians and led to Bagaza's deposition.[1]

A military coup broke out in September 1987, led by Major Pierre Buyoya, while Bagaza was abroad in Quebec, Canada. Buyoya successfully deposed Bagaza's regime and established himself as president.[1] Bagaza himself went into exile in neighbouring Uganda and later in Libya where he lived until 1993.[6] Opposed to the empowerment of Hutu through the 1993 elections, he reportedly played a major part in the coup d'état against Melchior Ndadaye, Burundi's first democratically elected president. The putschists killed Ndadaye, but failed to maintain control. Power was consequently returned to a civilian, democratic government.[7][8] Bagaza subsequently denied any involvement in the putsch.[1][9] Despite the coup's failure, he returned to Burundi where he founded the Party for National Recovery (Parti pour le Redressement National, PARENA).[10][11] PARENA was described as a Tutsi "extremist party".[2] He was a senator for life as a former head of state.[12][13] 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".[11]

On 18 January 1997, Bagaza was placed under house arrest for gathering weapons for a plot against President Buyoya.[3][11] Two months later, the house arrest was changed into a prison sentence, though he was quickly released.[14] Bagaza was subsequently involved in the peace talks which were supposed to end the Burundian Civil War. As he and PARENA as a whole tended to be opposed to the implementation of power-sharing deals with the Hutu rebels, the government placed Bagaza under house arrest and banned PARENA from November 2002 to May 2003. In 2005, there were rumours that radical followers of Bagaza were organising a rebel group known as "Justice and Liberity United Front". Tensions abated when PARENA accepted ministerial position in the newly formed coalition government. Bagaza ran as PARENA's candidate for the 2010 presidential election, but withdrew when the Burundian opposition boycotted the elections. He stepped down as head of PARENA in March 2014, and was succeeded by Zénon Nimbona. He remained the main opposition leader in the Burundian Senate, and joined the opposition boycott of the 2015 elections.[11]

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][10] He was survived by his wife Fausta and four daughters.[1]

• Lansford, Tom (2017). "Burundi". In Lansford, Tom (ed.). Political Handbook of the World 2016-2017. Volume 1. Thousand Oaks, California: CQ Press. pp. 218–228. ISBN 978-1-5063-2718-1.
• Weinstein, Warren (1976). Historical Dictionary of Burundi. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810809628.
• Young, Eric (2010). "Jean-Baptiste Bagaza". In Appiah, Kwame Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis (eds.). Encyclopedia of Africa. Vol. i. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 146. ISBN 9780195337709.