La mortalité de guerre au Burundi pendant la période 1993-2001

Abstract

Partly structured by ethnic oppositions, the Burundian conflict that began in 1993 has generated a large number of direct victims (killed by the war) and indirect victims (as a result of the deterioration of living conditions). In addition to mortality, this crisis has caused numerous forced displacements. The objective of this article is to understand the factors of overexposure to this mortality, based on the profile of the victims of the Burundian civil war according to various characteristics (age, gender, etc.) and by analyzing the very strong geographical differences in war mortality. The use of the Demographic and Reproductive Health Survey conducted in 2002 (ESDSR Burundi 2002) makes it possible to estimate mortality rates based on the declarations of the respondents on the survival of their children and the survival of their parents. When the death of a relative is reported, it is possible to distinguish whether it is the result of armed violence or another cause, which allows the estimation of war mortality rates by age and sex. At the level of the survey sectors, and in order to neutralize the effect of small numbers of respondents in each sector and the effect of differences in sex and age composition, standardized war mortality rates have been estimated. These estimates are proposed for two periods: 1993, characterized by mass killings and their repression, and 1994-2001, characterized by guerrilla warfare and sporadic abuses. In addition to this temporal distinction, the regrouping of populations in 1993 and 1994, and then during the years 1996-1999, indirectly provides a great deal of information on the exposure of different parts of the population to war mortality, depending on their situation in relation to political, ethnic and regional issues, within the framework of the complex human geography of Burundi.

Keywords

• mortality
• war mortality
• Burundi
• IDP camps
• civil war