ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses international conflict prevention in Burundi during the political crisis of 2015–2016. The preventive diplomacy practised by the international community has called for non-violence and has mainly been aimed at facilitating political dialogue. How have the United Nations, European Union, African Union and East African Community more concretely attempted to change the situation, the conflictual interaction and the level of tension in Burundi? The tools used by the international community include human rights monitoring, good offices, withdrawal of election support, and creation of partnerships. In parallel, the government of Burundi has increasingly resisted outside involvement in what it considers its internal affairs. The chapter then, in answering the question of conflict transformation, argues that the result has been mixed: some say that prevention has failed because tensions are still high and violence ongoing, while others say that a genocide has successfully been prevented and the situation would have been worse without international pressure. To this, the chapter adds that the resistance from the government of Burundi to international preventive diplomacy has led to unintended consequences such as shifting patterns of violence to more covert forms rather than ending them. Would-be prevention actors can learn from this in other contexts.
