A Contextual and Intersectional Analysis of Ex-Combatant Reintegration: The Case of Burundi

Among all DDR programmes implemented in Africa, Burundi is often presented as a relatively successful case. Implemented in two phases, as of 2004, for the main opposition group National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), and as of 2009 for the National Forces of Liberia Palipehutu-(FNL), the DDR programme in Burundi aimed to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate up to 55,000 combatants. By the end of 2009, approximately two-thirds of that objective had been reached, and a contingent of around 10,000 CNDD-FDD and FNL combatants had been merged into the newly created Burundian army. However, more than ten years after its end, assessments of the effectiveness of the DDR programme are mixed, especially in terms of the long-term social reinsertion of ex-combatants, and its consequences on peace and stability in the country. In this perspective, using interviews with Burundian ex-combatants and other data collected since the end of the DDR programme, this chapter examines the various contextual variables that impeded the successful reintegration of ex-combatants, such as Burundi's rampant poverty and persistent insecurity. In the last section, the chapter shifts focus to an intersectional analysis, looking at how individual factors such as gender, economic status, rural/urban contexts of reintegration, as well as age and time spent in the armed group have had an impact on the long-term reintegration of Burundian combatants.