Anti-clerical campaign of the government of Burundi was a policy of repression and restriction of the rights of the Catholic Church, pursued in Burundi from 1977 to 1987 by the regime of President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza.
The repression against the Roman Catholic Church stemmed from the ethnic conflict that plagued Burundi since its independence. The military regime, representing the interests of the Tutsi minority, suspected the church of supporting the discriminated Hutu majority. Starting in 1977, President Bagaza's government consistently restricted the rights of the church, evidenced by measures such as: the liquidation of Catholic press and education, the expulsion of hundreds of foreign missionaries, limitations on religious freedom, and the arrest of clergy and lay Catholic activists. Normalization of relations between the state and the church occurred only after Bagaza was overthrown in the 1987 coup d'état.
Social and historical background
The beginnings of Christianity in the lands of present-day Burundi can be traced back to 1879, when White Fathers missionaries established their first mission in Rumonge on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Due to the hostile attitude of the local population, it lasted only two years. It was not until the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries that more intensive Christianization efforts began in the region. European missionaries were aided by the fact that Islam, nor any other Abrahamic or Indian religion, had taken root in Burundi. The local population also did not practice traditions that were particularly difficult to reconcile with the principles of the Christian faith (polygamy, elaborate ancestor worship, etc.). As a result, by the 1970s, nearly 70% of Burundi's population adhered to Christianity, with the Roman Catholic Church being by far the largest and most influential denomination. The number of Catholics baptized in the Roman rite accounted for 60% to 65% of the population of Burundi, while 5% to 10% of the population belonged to various Protestant churches and communities. The clergy were predominantly European.
Burundi, like its neighboring country Rwanda, gained independence on 1 July 1962. The escalating antagonism between the Tutsi minority, traditionally holding higher social status, and the numerically dominant Hutu had a profound impact on the fate of both countries.Following Belgian estimates from the 1930s, most sources typically state that Burundi's population consists of 85% Hutu, 14% Tutsi, and 1% Twa (; ). In Rwanda, rising ethnic tensions led to the outbreak of a bloody uprising (1959–1962), which resulted in the overthrow of the Tutsi monarchy and the establishment of a republic dominated entirely by Hutu. On the other hand, Burundi, where the social hierarchy and ethnic divisions were much less rigid and significantly more complicated, began its independent life as a constitutional monarchy, with the Tutsi maintaining significant influence. However, under the influence of various factors, relations between the two ethnic groups quickly deteriorated.
An attempted coup by a group of Hutu officers in October 1965 enabled the Tutsi-controlled army to gain dominant influence over the country's affairs. After a few months of difficult cohabitation, the military overthrew the monarchy in a coup d'état and declared the establishment of the so-called First Republic on 28 November 1966. The country was led by the former prime minister and defense minister, Captain Michel Micombero (Tutsi-Hima).
In the following years, the military regime systematically reduced the influence of the Hutu in political life, the armed forces, and the administration. In April 1972, radical Hutu politicians, with the help of mercenaries from Zaire, initiated an armed uprising in the southern provinces of the country, during which hundreds to thousands of Tutsi were murdered. The rebellion was quickly suppressed by the government army, and the reprisals against its supporters turned into a planned and systematic extermination of the Hutu social elite. From the end of April to September 1972, between 100,000 and 300,000 Hutu were killed in Burundi, and at least 150,000 were forced to flee the country. This was the first documented case of genocide in post-colonial Africa. The massacres of 1972 ultimately solidified the status of the Tutsi as the dominant ethnic group. For the next 16 years, power, influence, privileges, and wealth were reserved exclusively for members of this group, while the Hutu were blocked from access to education and excluded from military service or employment in state administration.
Birth of the Second Republic On 1 November 1976, President Micombero was overthrown in a military coup. Power in the country was taken by the Supreme Military Council, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza. The bloodless coup initially seemed like a classic palace coup, as the new president was Micombero's cousin, also from the Tutsi-Hima subgroup. However, it quickly became clear that the new regime aimed to radically overhaul the state and society, symbolized by the adoption of a new constitution in November 1981. The period of Bagaza's rule (1976–1987) is now known in the history of Burundi as the era of the "Second Republic".
The fall of the discredited regime of Micombero, tainted by genocide, was welcomed with relief both within Burundi and beyond its borders. The coup was also favorably received by the Roman Catholic Church, whose bishops, in a pastoral letter from December 1976, wished the new government "every success" and assured it of their "full support for its efforts". The brief hopes raised by the birth of the Second Republic were linked to the fact that, in the early stages of his rule, Bagaza took several actions that appeared to aim at easing the ethnic tensions that had torn the country apart. The regime's central slogan became "national unity". Government propaganda proclaimed that the division of society into Tutsi and Hutu was an artificial problem created by colonial governments. Consequently, identity documents were stripped of any reference to ethnic origins, and all previous restrictions on marriage between Hutu and Tutsi were abolished. Public and private references to ethnic origin were soon prohibited, with violations potentially being considered as incitement to racial hatred. Bagaza also declared an amnesty for all Hutu exiles and released a number of political prisoners. He made conciliatory gestures towards other Tutsi clans, previously discriminated against by the Tutsi-Hima rulers. The credibility of the president's actions was further strengthened by the fact that he had not been involved in the 1972 genocide, being abroad at the time. Furthermore, the government vigorously promoted a return to pre-colonial traditions and values, with the elevation of the Kirundi language to the status of the sole language of instruction in primary and secondary schools serving as a particularly symbolic gesture. A number of investments in infrastructure and education were also undertaken.
However, the Second Republic was a strictly authoritarian state, plagued by corruption and nepotism. The 1981 constitution confirmed the status of the ruling party, UPRONA, as the only legally operating political force. During Bagaza's rule, Tutsi dominance in political and social life was firmly entrenched.In the 30-member Supreme Military Council, all seats were occupied by officers from the Tutsi ethnic group. All provincial governors also came from this ethnic group. Between 1976 and 1979, only three Hutu were included in the cabinet, holding relatively insignificant positions such as ministers for public services, labor and social affairs, and transport and aviation. In 1982, Hutu held only 15 seats in the 65-member parliament, and by 1987, this group had decreased to just seven members. Moreover, Tutsi completely dominated the structures of the ruling party, UPRONA – both at the central and regional levels (for example, in the 65-member central committee, there were only two Hutu) (). The slogans of national unity turned out to be a propaganda tool aimed at restoring the legitimacy of the ruling elite, which had been lost in 1972. Denying the existence of ethnic differences primarily served to combat the alleged tribalism of the Hutu. While under Micombero's rule, Tutsi hegemony was based on their absolute control over the security forces (army, gendarmerie), the Bagaza regime sought to solidify and secure Tutsi dominance through changes in the legal system and social life. Identity cards and a residency registration requirement were introduced, severely restricting the freedom of movement, as permission to leave one's place of residence depended on approval from local authorities. The government also implemented a policy of "villagization", merging individual farms into self-sustaining economic units."Villagization" was very unpopular among farmers, so it yielded minimal results. By 1983, the government had managed to organize only 102 villages, each consisting of 50 to 200 families. A greater success, however, was the support for agricultural cooperatives – based on more voluntary principles of operation (; ). Officially, this policy aimed to increase agricultural production, but it was widely seen as an effort to strengthen control over the rural population. According to Reginald Kay, the hallmark of the Second Republic was primarily the discrimination in education. The authorities sought, under various pretexts, to limit the number of Hutu attending secondary schools and universities. Of the 36,000 students who completed primary education each year, only 4,000 continued to secondary school, with Hutu forming a clear minority in this group. Hutu made up only a third of the students at the University of Burundi. The most sophisticated move was making Kirundi the language of instruction in primary and secondary schools, coupled with a drastic reduction in the teaching of French. Only Tutsi from privileged families connected to the regime possessed the cultural capital required to learn French, without which any social advancement was impossible.
The official discrimination against Hutu during the Second Republic, visible in all aspects of Burundian social life, was often compared to South African apartheid.
Policy of weakening the church from 1977 to 1987
Origins and objectives of the regime's anti-church policy Although the Burundian Roman Catholic hierarchy greeted the birth of the Second Republic with goodwill, the new government, after only a few months, began taking actions aimed at significantly reducing the influence and importance of the church. Various persecutions also fell upon Protestant churches and communities. The most extreme repression targeted the Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, whose activities were completely banned.
One of the main architects of the anti-clerical campaign was Emile Mworoha, the Secretary General of UPRONA, who was the second most powerful person in the state and the chief ideologue of the regime. This intellectual, educated at French universities, emphasized that due to colonial legacies, the state had largely ceded significant areas of social life, such as education and healthcare, to the control of the church. Following this line of thought, he argued – and government propaganda echoed this – that limiting the church's influence was primarily aimed at "eliminating the last traces of colonialism". Legal and propaganda justification for the government's actions was also provided by the 1981 constitution, which explicitly stated the secular nature of the state.