Burundi: Baho! (Roland Rugero, trans. Chris Schaefer)

Roland Rugero (b. 1986) is a Burundian writer, journalist, and film director. When he was 7 years old, Rugero's family was forced to flee to Rwanda after the Tutsi genocide began in Burundi. Although they attempted to return, his family then left for Tanzania. When Rugero was an adult, he returned to Burundi, where he has worked primarily as a journalist, hoping to change the face of Burundian journalism, which he found severely lacking. He has worked to promote literature in Burundi, founding a weekly literary workshop called Samandari in 2011. He also helped establish two literary prizes. In addition to his work in writing, Rugero is one of the country's few film directors. 

Background: The primary ethnic groups of Burundi, the Twa, Hutu, and Tutsi have lived together in the region for at least 500 years. The Kingdom of Burundi emerged in the late 16th century, over mainly Hutus, although the monarch was Tutsi. The Twa were at the very bottom of society. In 1884, the German East Africa Company was active in region, and the German Empire eventually colonized Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania into German East Africa. During World War I, the region was attacked by the allied powers as a move against Germany, eventually ceding Ruanda-Urundi to Belgium between 1916 and 1962. During this entire period, the Burundian monarchy continued unabated, with the Belgians encouraging the ethnic stratification. By 1948, Belgium had allowed the region to make its own political parties, setting the stage for independence in 1962. Burundi's first elected president, Prince Louis Rwagasore, was assassinated, and the country became a constitutional monarchy under Mwami Mwambutsa IV. Although he appointed a Hutu prime minister, the man was assassinated, riling up ethnic tensions. The army, primarily Tutsi, killed the Hutus in their ranks, as the King was deposed in 1966. Another coup tried to establish a republic, but ended up as essentially a dictatorship. In 1972, a Hutu rebel group attacked while the previously deposed king returned (and then murdered), sparking the First Burundian Genocide. The Tutsi government and army targeted the Hutu majority, killing between 80,000 and 210,000 people and forcing many to flee. A Tutsi, Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, took over in 1976, using suppression tactics to bring the country under better control, although he was overthrown in 1987 by Major Pierre Buyoya, who suspended the constitution in favor of military rule. He then encouraged the murder of Tutsis, resulting in the death of at least 5,000. Attempts were made to afford equal representation of Hutu and Tutsis in the government, but civil war broke out again, with mass genocide of Tutsis by the Hutus this time. In 1993, Melchior Ndadaye won the country's first democratic election, but he was shortly assassinated resulting in more violence against the Tutsis and continued violence between the two groups with around 300,000 people killed overall. The next years saw repeated attempts to elect a new president followed by assassination. In 1996, Pierre Buyoya took power again, and forced long peace talks and in 2000 a transitional government was put in place, which has been relatively successful. Since 2006, there has been significant work into growing the economy, but it has been mostly unsuccessful as conflict has continued and hundreds of thousands of refugees have returned, resulting in Burundi having one of the lowest per capita gross incomes of any nation. The last few years have been filled with more attempted coups, widespread demonstrations, and violence.

Baho! is the first Brundian novel ever to be translated into English. It is quite short, and follows the story of young mute man named Nyamuragi. When trying to indicate where to use the bathroom, the young women to whom he is gesticulating thinks he is attempting to rape her, and since he is unable to speak, the village thinks he is guilty, surrounding him and threatening to kill him until a deus ex machina moment towards the end of the story. The book is pretty weird; I felt like a lot of it was confusing as a reader from without the culture. Rugero is clearly critical of the behavior of many: the villagers for being superstitious and quick to judge, the passivity of onlookers, the dangers of rape culture. At the same time, the story is situated within Kirundi culture, proverbs are used, the Kirundi relationship with nature is emphasized. Overall, a strange little novel, but worth looking into if you would like to better understand this small country.