Conflict and Coffee in Burundi 117
process, in particular, weakens the potential for real transformation. As Ali
notes, even if a peace agreement acknowledges the importance of "sharing
the spoils" of control over the state, this still only constitutes a sharing among
elite, and continues to exclude the ordinary people.78 Furthermore, there is
no effective means for civil society to monitor the implementation of the
peace agreement - if there were, this would lead to both greater accounta-
bility and legitimacy of government, and greater public trust and identifica-
tion with it. These are important peace-building aims in themselves.
Non-governmental initiatives can be very effective in providing space for
dialogue and reconciliation. Many organisations in Burundi, such as the
Compngnie des Apotres de la Paix, the Human Rights League ITEKA, the
Communautes Ecclesiales de Base, and radio stations such as Ijambo and
African Public Radio have indeed done so. Concerning our central question,
however, civil society cannot itself plan and implement structural changes in
the way the state exploits the resources of a country and how it distributes
the proceeds. The only way in which civil society can influence this is
through pressure on a responsive state, which, as we have seen, does not
apply in Burundi.
Grass roots and civil society initiatives can, however, play a crucial role in
addressing the local, community-based resource conflicts as well as the eth-
nic enmities created by the decades of violence. If it is too great a job to tack-
le the meta-conflict all at once, it may be possible to work on smaller, local
conflict dynamics, such as the issues of resource competition at the local
level. The resource conflict, which exists between members of a community
(including between Hutus and Tutsis) or between those who have stayed in
Burundi and those refugees now returning, can be addressed co-operatively
at the local level. If modes of reconciliation and cooperation between groups
at the local level can be achieved, perhaps through joint agricultural or envi-
ronmental programmes which benefit the entire community, then this creates
peace constituencies which can impact on the national level negotiations as
well. Joint projects centred on sustainable natural resource use and sharing
can help to overcome ethnic enmity and mistrust. A popular peace con-
stituency, which realises that its daily problems can be solved without reson-
ing to ethnic hatred, is potentially a great step toward disempowering the
manipulative elite.
In addition to the problems of internal dynamics, Burundi's peace process
is also bedevilled by the fluctuating conflict in the DRC. The rebel groups, who
continue their violent attacks in Burundi, were long financed by the govern-
ments of the DRC, Zimbabwe and Angola because of their strategic alliance
against the Congolese rebels supported by Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi's
government. This financial and political support, also from Tanzania, long
gave the rebels no need to negotiate, since they believed in the possibility of
winning the war. Since the resuscitation of the Lusaka peace process in the