I S I M NEWSLETTER 3 / 9 9 Regional issues 29

Central Africa XAVIER LUFFIN Muslims in

Today, mentioning Burundi evokes directly the con- flicts which opposed Tutsis and Hutus in 1993 and 1995-6, just as in Rwanda. The Muslim community in Burundi does not exceed two to five percent of the Discretion and population, but their history and their behaviour in the last tragic conflicts between Hutus and Tutsis de- serve to be analysed. N e u t r a l i t y

Muslims in Burundi live mainly in cities Africa. The presence of Islam in the city then Away from Politics clerk of stated that the newly such as Gitega, Rumonge, Nyanza, Muyinga, increased with German colonization: a large During the tragic conflicts between Hutus converted insist more than the others on and Makamba. The largest Muslim commu- part of the a s k a r i s – indigenous soldiers in- and Tutsis in 1993 and 1995-6, Muslims their ethnicity and he does not hide his fear nity lives in the capital, Bujumbura, espe- cluded in the colonial troops – were Mus- stayed out of the clashes. In Buyenzi, a man of this new phenomenon. cially in the neighbourhoods of Buyenzi, lims, while Indian and Arab traders has- remembers that ‘during the events, our Issa Ngendakumana is a Muslim and a for- Bwiza and the quartier asiatique ( o r i g i n a l l y tened to the city, wishing to profit from the neighbourhood was called ‘Swiss’, until the mer minister, currently residing in Belgium. created for the Indian and Arab traders by developing site. The Germans also incorpo- army threatened to transform it in a new He remembers very well that he understood the colonial Belgian rulers), where the main rated many Swahili and Banyamwezi into Tchetchenia!’ In 1995, when the army did his ethnic origin only in 1972, when the mosque is situated. The Islamic Cultural the police and the administration. Kiswahili away with the Hutu neighbourhood of Ka- army killed thousands of Hutus. Before this, Centre, built by the Libyan government became ’s official lan- menge, its inhabitants fled directly to the he never wondered whether he was a Tutsi under the Bagaza presidency (1976-1987), is guage, alongside German of course. When ‘neutral’ Buyenzi, which is now overcrowd- or a Hutu. According to him, this was not also located there. World War I broke out, the majority of Bu- ed. In Rwanda, the situation was much the due to his religion: at the time, a lot of peas- The Muslims in Burundi have miscella- jumbura’s population professed Islam. At same. This does not, however, mean to ants did not really care whether they were neous origins. Besides a small number of this time, the Burundians preferred to live imply that all Muslims completely withheld Hutu or Tutsi. Ngendakumana stresses that converts from among the ‘original’ Burundi- inside the country, far from the lake. A local from participation in the massacres. Certain most of the Muslims are of foreign origin ans – Hutus and Tutsis – an important Con- tradition even held that the King could not Muslims are wanted by the Burundian Jus- and so they do not identify with this dual vi- golese population settled in Bujumbura, look at the Tanganyika Lake, for if so he tice for their participation and some are sion of society. He also recalls that Muslims which lies some kilometres away from the would die. The Burundians started to settle now being judged in Arusha for participa- do not participate in political life. And it is border with Congo. The large Rwandan down in this city with the Belgian coloniza- tion in the Rwandan genocide. the politicians who emphasize the so-called community also includes numerous Mus- tion, which began in 1919. But even then, During the last years, conversion to Islam difference between Hutu and Tutsi. To date lims. The W a r a b u – Kiswahili for ‘Arabs’ – are the phenomenon was slow to increase: in in both Burundi and Rwanda has firmly in- there have been only five Muslim ministers, Omani and Yemeni traders who have lived 1957, Burundians constituted not much creased. Of course this could be due to a and this, only since the nineties. in Burundi or in other neighbouring East more than 27 percent of Bujumbura’s popu- general need for spirituality after such a How can the distance from power be ex- African countries since several generations. lation. Besides them, there were more than tragedy. There is also an observable new en- plained? A local Muslim journalist in Burun- Most of them have forgotten Arabic: they 80 so-called ‘tribes’ speaking 34 different thusiasm for Catholic and especially Protes- di asserted that his co-religionists were ex- speak Kiswahili and the national language languages and using Swahili as their lingua tant churches. It is nonetheless obvious that cluded from schools, and thus were exclud- Kirundi, or even French. Other Arabs from franca. And Muslims still constituted 35.6 Islam attracts many for its having been neu- ed from political activities. Some have taken Sudan, Mauritania and Lebanon have come percent of this mixed population. The Bu- tral during the conflicts. How can this neu- a Christian name in order to pursue their more recently to trade in the capital. Muslim rundian Muslims are Sunnis. However, a trality be explained? Many Muslims say it is studies. Again, Ngendakumana placed that B a h i n d i, a name given to the Indians and small Shiite mosque is located in the q u a r t i- due to the fact that they identify themselves assumption into perspective: ‘There has Pakistanis, also settled in the country long er asiatique, mostly frequented by Indians as Muslims, and not as Hutus or Tutsis. This never been a real discrimination toward ago and are often confused with the and Pakistanis. There are also some Ibazi – idyllic point of view, however, is not always Muslims at school, even if we can observe W a r a b u. Swahili for Ibadites – coming mainly from true. Some Burundian Muslims emphasize much less education among Muslims. But Besides those communities, West Africans Zanzibar and Oman. their ‘ethnic’ roots; others do not. A Muslim schools in Burundi have been first created arrived in the country in the last decades. In Burundi, Muslims have a close relation- and managed by the Catholic Church. Thus, Originally, they were traders coming from ship with Kiswahili, a Bantu-language con- Muslim students didn’t feel at ease in these Mali, Senegal and Ivory Coast, importing taining an important vocabulary from Ara- i n s t i t u t i o n s … ’ clothes and fabrics or dealing with gold ex- bic. It is even rare to meet a Muslim who This leads to another part of the explana- tracted from Congolese mines. Most of the does not speak this language. In the same tion. The Catholic Church cannot be sepa- West African traders left the country when way, ‘Swahili’ is the term commonly used to rated from Burundian (and Rwandan) con- conflict broke out in 1993, although some say ‘Muslims’ in Burundi, and the Muslim temporary history. It may be positively or still have small shops in the central market neighbourhood of Gitega, the second city of negatively perceived, but it is never seen as or in Bwiza. the country, is called the quartier swahili. a neutral observer. Catholicism was im- Prayers are uttered in Arabic, as is the read- planted in Burundi and Rwanda as a tool of Diverse Origins ing of the Koran, although believers use colonial power, and it has developed theo- Islam was introduced by Arab and Swahili Kiswahili translations of the m a s a f i ( f r o m ries which reinforced the difference be- traders. Since the early 19t h century, cara- Arabic m u s h a f) and the j u z u (Arabic j u z ’) of tween Hutu and Tutsi. After the indepen- vans coming from the Indian Ocean coast the Holy Book as well. Recently, a local intel- dence, it maintained the role at times of an penetrated as far as Ujiji (today in ), lectual translated some prayers into Kirundi, ally, at others as an opponent of the govern- on the bank of Tanganyika Lake looking for which were published in Kenya with Saudi ment. The churches were used by some ivory and later for slaves. Around 1850, they funds. It should be said that Kiswahili does priests to exhort or to justify their crimes. created a colony at Uvira, on the Congolese not belong to the Muslims alone: most of But Islam is never associated with political edge of the lake. Both cities became the Bujumbura’s inhabitants understand it. It is events in the area. On the other hand, the meeting points of the caravans and traders even used for mass in some churches, and few Muslims who took part in the massacres – Arabs as well as Africans like Swahili, television and radio programmes are broad- generally acted as individuals, never as be- Banyamwezi, Bamanyema – began to ex- cast in this language. lievers using their faith to exterminate their change their products with Nyanza and Ru- brothers. A last point to put forward is that monge, coastal cities located in Burundi. Muslims are traders and live in towns. They Little by little, Islam penetrated the coun- are not directly involved in land possession try. In 1885, the governor of Ujiji, Mo- and exploitation, both key elements in the hammed Bin Khalfan (called R u m a l i z a i n understanding of the conflict in an over- Kirundi, ‘the one who takes everything’), de- crowded and agricultural area. Whatever cided to extend his power to the North, aim- the reasons, the behaviour of Burundian ing to reach more ivory and slaves. Bin Khal- Muslims is worth mentioning. It is a proof fan was a member of the Barwani’s, a fa- that the ‘ethnic’ scission is not a fatality in mous Omani family that had settled in East B u r u n d i . ♦ Africa. He multiplied his incursions on the Burundian coast of the lake – although he never succeeded in penetrating the country in a long-lasting way – firmly defended by King Mwezi Gisabo. In the 1890s, when the first missionaries arrived in what is now Bujumbura, they Xavier Luffin teaches Arabic at the Vrij Universiteit found some W a n g w a n a, a name given at Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. Quartier asiatique this time to the Muslim Africans in Central E-mail: [email protected]