Contract of peaceful cohabitation (neighbourhood Teza ii of Kamenge), Burundi
- Country/entity
-
Burundi
- Region
-
Africa (excl MENA)
- Agreement name
- Contract of peaceful cohabitation (neighbourhood Teza ii of Kamenge), Burundi
- Date
- 30 Jun 2004
- Agreement status
- Multiparty signed/agreed
- Interim arrangement
- Yes
- Agreement/conflict level
- Intrastate/local conflict
- Stage
- Implementation/renegotiation
- Conflict nature
- Inter-group
- Peace process
- Burundi: Local Process
- Parties
-
Approved by 150 people living in the neighbourhood of Teza II, representing all segments of the population.
On behalf of the inhabitants of Teza II, the Committee elected: [Name & Signature]
The representative of young people living in Kamenge : [Name & Signature]
The representative of young people displaced: [Name & Signature]
The representative men living in Kamenge: [Name & Signature]
The representative of internally displaced men: [Name & Signature]
The representative of women living in Kamenge: [Name & Signature]
The representative of displaced women: [Name & Signature] - Third parties
- Bishop Dacillia Joseph, alias Buyengero
- Description
- The Hutu and Tutsi in the neighbourhood of Teza II agree not to kill or persecute members of each others' communities, and agree to reconcile and live in peace.
- Agreement document
- BI_040630_Contract of peaceful Cohabitation.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF
Groups
- Children/youth
- Groups→Children/youth→RhetoricalPage 3:
We call on ACORD, CADEKA and all other benefactors to support us in the following:
...
- To prepare a meeting of young people so that they too undertake to meet these commitments because they constitute a group easily manipulatedGroups→Children/youth→SubstantivePage 2-3,
- We the Hutu and Tutsi, we agree as follows:
...Restore the confidence between us by visits or meetings To ensure our commitments stand, we elect a committee, which will be responsible for enforcing them. The Committee is composed of six persons:
Two representatives of young people: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of men: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of women: 1 living in the neighbourhood - Disabled persons
No specific mention.
- Elderly/age
No specific mention.
- Migrant workers
No specific mention.
- Racial/ethnic/national group
- Groups→Racial/ethnic/national group→SubstantiveSummary: The agreement in its entirity provides for steps to reconcile two ethnic groups residing in the same neighbourhood.
Page 2,
We the Hutu and Tutsi, we agree as follows:
- No Hutu shall kill or persecute a Tutsi for ethnic, political or other reasons.
- No Tutsi shall persecute or kill a Hutu for ethnic, political or other reasons.
- We will be always united in order to withstand any political or other onslaught. We commit ourselves to the following:
- Live together in peace
- Mutually forgive
- Begin a new life devoid of mistrust, contempt, and of hatred
- Forming a united front while we supporting each other
- Combat all destructive messages, be it political or otherwise
- We assist each other to rebuild the houses destroyed
- To make a peaceful cohabitation devoid of injustice - Religious groups
No specific mention.
- Indigenous people
No specific mention.
- Other groups
No specific mention.
- Refugees/displaced persons
- Groups→Refugees/displaced persons→RhetoricalPage 1,
We, the inhabitants of Kamenge, neighbourhood Teza II, the Hutu and Tutsi, displaced persons, returnees and receiving communities living in the neighbourhood:
...
- While the war has largely destroyed Kamenge, where the Tutsi were driven from their homes, and thereafter the Hutu have been driven off their homes, and where populations have been victims of looting, killings, rape and many other crimes that were committed in time of war. We affirm that:
...
- During the war, the Tutsi have left their households and have become refugees, driven away particularly by fear
- The Hutu were also expelled and persecuted with such gravity that some have found themselves with the Tutsi in camps for displaced or elsewhere. As the saying goes in Kirundi: “Nta mwonga ubura isato iba idahizwe” (there is no blood without thorns). Wrongdoers especially among young people have committed crimes to those who are not of their ethnic group, have persecuted them, looted their property and even killed.
Page 1,
We Hutu affirm that:
- We, who have already returned home, hope that our neighbours also return to their homes so that we live may together.
- We are sincerely preparing to welcome them. They must occupy their original plots of land.
- We will help them to rebuild their homes, and they will also help us to rebuild ours.
- We will fight together against any perpetrator or enemy who seeks to destroy our neighbourhood.
Page 1-2,
We Tutsi affirm that:
- We are very pleased to see our neighbours again. We all want regain our homes to join our neighbours who are already returned. We know that in large part what happened to our country was a consequence of an unhealthy politics of the country, which takes advantage of the ignorance of small people, which manipulated us and caused thousands of deaths. - Social class
No specific mention.
Gender
- Women, girls and gender
- Page 2-3,
- We the Hutu and Tutsi, we agree as follows:
...Restore the confidence between us by visits or meetings To ensure our commitments stand, we elect a committee, which will be responsible for enforcing them. The Committee is composed of six persons:
Two representatives of young people: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of men: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of women: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Page 3, Approved by 150 people living in the neighbourhood of Teza II, representing all segments of the population.
On behalf of the inhabitants of Teza II, the Committee elected: [Name & Signature]
...
The representative of women living in Kamenge: [Name & Signature] - Men and boys
- Gender→Men and boys→OtherPage 2-3,
- We the Hutu and Tutsi, we agree as follows:
...Restore the confidence between us by visits or meetings To ensure our commitments stand, we elect a committee, which will be responsible for enforcing them. The Committee is composed of six persons:
Two representatives of young people: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of men: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of women: 1 living in the neighbourhood - LGBTI
No specific mention.
- Family
No specific mention.
State definition
- Nature of state (general)
No specific mention.
- State configuration
No specific mention.
- Self determination
No specific mention.
- Referendum
No specific mention.
- State symbols
No specific mention.
- Independence/secession
No specific mention.
- Accession/unification
No specific mention.
- Border delimitation
No specific mention.
- Cross-border provision
No specific mention.
Governance
- Political institutions (new or reformed)
No specific mention.
- Elections
No specific mention.
- Electoral commission
No specific mention.
- Political parties reform
No specific mention.
- Civil society
No specific mention.
- Traditional/religious leaders
No specific mention.
- Public administration
No specific mention.
- Constitution
No specific mention.
Power sharing
- Political power sharing
No specific mention.
- Territorial power sharing
No specific mention.
- Economic power sharing
No specific mention.
- Military power sharing
No specific mention.
Human rights and equality
- Human rights/RoL general
No specific mention.
- Bill of rights/similar
No specific mention.
- Treaty incorporation
No specific mention.
- Civil and political rights
No specific mention.
- Socio-economic rights
No specific mention.
Rights related issues
- Citizenship
No specific mention.
- Democracy
No specific mention.
- Detention procedures
No specific mention.
- Media and communication
No specific mention.
- Mobility/access
No specific mention.
- Protection measures
No specific mention.
- Other
No specific mention.
Rights institutions
- NHRI
No specific mention.
- Regional or international human rights institutions
No specific mention.
Justice sector reform
- Criminal justice and emergency law
No specific mention.
- State of emergency provisions
No specific mention.
- Judiciary and courts
No specific mention.
- Prisons and detention
No specific mention.
- Traditional Laws
No specific mention.
Socio-economic reconstruction
- Development or socio-economic reconstruction
No specific mention.
- National economic plan
No specific mention.
- Natural resources
No specific mention.
- International funds
No specific mention.
- Business
No specific mention.
- Taxation
No specific mention.
- Banks
No specific mention.
Land, property and environment
- Land reform/rights
No specific mention.
- Pastoralist/nomadism rights
No specific mention.
- Cultural heritage
No specific mention.
- Environment
No specific mention.
- Water or riparian rights or access
No specific mention.
Security sector
- Security Guarantees
- Page 1:
We Hutu affirm that:
...
- We will fight together against any perpetrator or enemy who seeks to destroy our neighbourhood.
Page 2:
We the Hutu and Tutsi, we agree as follows:
- No Hutu shall kill or persecute a Tutsi for ethnic, political or other reasons.
- No Tutsi shall persecute or kill a Hutu for ethnic, political or other reasons. - Ceasefire
No specific mention.
- Police
No specific mention.
- Armed forces
No specific mention.
- DDR
No specific mention.
- Intelligence services
No specific mention.
- Parastatal/rebel and opposition group forces
No specific mention.
- Withdrawal of foreign forces
No specific mention.
- Corruption
No specific mention.
- Crime/organised crime
No specific mention.
- Drugs
No specific mention.
- Terrorism
No specific mention.
Transitional justice
- Transitional justice general
- Page 2:
All of us Hutu and Tutsi, aware that some very serious crimes have been committed by the people of our neighbourhood themselves, from now on refrain from pointing the finger of blame to avoid the risk of going back to conflict. However we hope that the guilty ask forgiveness and pardon is already granted automatically. - Amnesty/pardon
No specific mention.
- Courts
No specific mention.
- Mechanism
No specific mention.
- Prisoner release
No specific mention.
- Vetting
No specific mention.
- Victims
No specific mention.
- Missing persons
No specific mention.
- Reparations
No specific mention.
- Reconciliation
- Page 2-3
We the Hutu and Tutsi, we agree as follows:
- No Hutu shall kill or persecute a Tutsi for ethnic, political or other reasons.
- No Tutsi shall persecute or kill a Hutu for ethnic, political or other reasons.
- We will be always united in order to withstand any political or other onslaught. We commit ourselves to the following:
- Live together in peace
- Mutually forgive
- Begin a new life devoid of mistrust, contempt, and of hatred
- Forming a united front while we supporting each other
- Combat all destructive messages, be it political or otherwise
- We assist each other to rebuild the houses destroyed
- To make a peaceful cohabitation devoid of injustice
- Restore the confidence between us by visits or meetings To ensure our commitments stand, we elect a committee, which will be responsible for enforcing them. The Committee is composed of six persons:
Two representatives of young people: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of men: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of women: 1 living in the neighbourhood
On behalf of the inhabitants of Teza II, the Committee elected: [Name & Signature]
The representative of young people living in Kamenge : [Name & Signature]
The representative of young people displaced: [Name & Signature]
The representative men living in Kamenge: [Name & Signature]
The representative of internally displaced men: [Name & Signature]
The representative of women living in Kamenge: [Name & Signature]
The representative of displaced women: [Name & Signature]
We call on ACORD, CADEKA and all other benefactors to support us in the following:
- Maintain meetings and other collective work to strengthen the trust between us.
- Rebuild and especially in offering us iron sheets.
- To prepare a meeting of young people so that they too undertake to meet these commitments because they constitute a group easily manipulated
Implementation
- UN signatory
No specific mention.
- Other international signatory
No specific mention.
- Referendum for agreement
No specific mention.
- International mission/force/similar
No specific mention.
- Enforcement mechanism
- Page 2-3
We the Hutu and Tutsi, we agree as follows:
...
- Restore the confidence between us by visits or meetings To ensure our commitments stand, we elect a committee, which will be responsible for enforcing them. The Committee is composed of six persons:
Two representatives of young people: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of men: 1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of women: 1 living in the neighbourhood
On behalf of the inhabitants of Teza II, the Committee elected: [Name & Signature]
The representative of young people living in Kamenge : [Name & Signature]
The representative of young people displaced: [Name & Signature]
The representative men living in Kamenge: [Name & Signature]
The representative of internally displaced men: [Name & Signature]
The representative of women living in Kamenge: [Name & Signature]
The representative of displaced women: [Name & Signature]
We call on ACORD, CADEKA and all other benefactors to support us in the following:
- Maintain meetings and other collective work to strengthen the trust between us.
- Rebuild and especially in offering us iron sheets.
- To prepare a meeting of young people so that they too undertake to meet these commitments because they constitute a group easily manipulated - Related cases
No specific mention.
- Source
- Community Peace Recovery and Reconciliation: A Handbook for Generating Leadership for Sustainable Peace and Recovery among Divided Communities (Nairobi,
The National Steering Committee on Peacebuilding and Conflict Management (NSC),
Ministry of Provincial Administration and Internal Security, Office of the President;
Agency for Co-operation & Research in Development (ACORD) and United Nations
Development Programme, 2011), pp. 57-59
Contract of peaceful cohabitation (neighbourhood Teza ii of Kamenge), Burundi
We, the inhabitants of Kamenge, neighbourhood Teza II, the Hutu and Tutsi, displaced persons, returnees and receiving communities living in the neighbourhood:
- Considering that Burundi has just spent more than ten years in war
- While the war has largely destroyed Kamenge, where the Tutsi were driven from their homes, and thereafter the Hutu have been driven off their homes, and where populations have been victims of looting, killings, rape and many other crimes that were committed in time of war.
We affirm that:
- Our life together here in the neighbourhood of Teza II has been largely destroyed by people from outside, be it by the politicians, the military or other wrongdoers
- During the war, the Tutsi have left their households and have become refugees, driven away particularly by fear
- The Hutu were also expelled and persecuted with such gravity that some have found themselves with the Tutsi in camps for displaced or elsewhere.
As the saying goes in Kirundi:
“Nta mwonga ubura isato iba idahizwe” (there is no blood without thorns).
Wrongdoers especially among young people have committed crimes to those who are not of their ethnic group, have persecuted them, looted their property and even killed.
We Hutu affirm that:
- We, who have already returned home, hope that our neighbours also return to their homes so that we live may together.
- We are sincerely preparing to welcome them.
They must occupy their original plots of land.
- We will help them to rebuild their homes, and they will also help us to rebuild ours.
- We will fight together against any perpetrator or enemy who seeks to destroy our neighbourhood.
We Tutsi affirm that:
- We are very pleased to see our neighbours again.
We all want regain our homes to join our neighbours who are already returned.
We know that in large part what happened to our country was a consequence of an unhealthy politics of the country, which takes advantage of the ignorance of small people, which manipulated us and caused thousands of deaths.
- Even if some remain scared, we wish that there are many meetings and visits to restore confidence between us.
All of us Hutu and Tutsi, aware that some very serious crimes have been committed by the people of our neighbourhood themselves, from now on refrain from pointing the finger of blame to avoid the risk of going back to conflict.
However we hope that the guilty ask forgiveness and pardon is already granted automatically.
However, there where there are reasons to criticise his neighbour one might seize the committee elected herewith to help resolve the matter.
We the Hutu and Tutsi, we agree as follows:
- No Hutu shall kill or persecute a Tutsi for ethnic, political or other reasons.
- No Tutsi shall persecute or kill a Hutu for ethnic, political or other reasons.
- We will be always united in order to withstand any political or other onslaught.
We commit ourselves to the following:
- Live together in peace
- Mutually forgive
- Begin a new life devoid of mistrust, contempt, and of hatred
- Forming a united front while we supporting each other
- Combat all destructive messages, be it political or otherwise
- We assist each other to rebuild the houses destroyed
- To make a peaceful cohabitation devoid of injustice
- Restore the confidence between us by visits or meetings
To ensure our commitments stand, we elect a committee, which will be responsible for enforcing them.
The Committee is composed of six persons:
Two representatives of young people:
1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of men:
1 living in the neighbourhood
Two representatives of women:
1 living in the neighbourhood
On behalf of the inhabitants of Teza II, the Committee elected:
[Name & Signature]
The representative of young people living in Kamenge :
[Name & Signature]
The representative of young people displaced:
[Name & Signature]
The representative men living in Kamenge:
[Name & Signature]
The representative of internally displaced men:
[Name & Signature]
The representative of women living in Kamenge:
[Name & Signature]
The representative of displaced women:
[Name & Signature]
We call on ACORD, CADEKA and all other benefactors to support us in the following:
- Maintain meetings and other collective work to strengthen the trust between us.
- Rebuild and especially in offering us iron sheets.
- To prepare a meeting of young people so that they too undertake to meet these commitments because they constitute a group easily manipulated
These commitments are approved by 150 people living in the neighbourhood of Teza II, representing all segments of the population.
Signed in the neighbourhood Teza II, in the house of the bishop Dacillia Joseph, alias Buyengero, 30/06/04.