Data Triangulation

The approach towards interview-analysis consists in three different layers of analysis: The 'official' level focuses on reconciliation politics as conceived on the national level, the 'informal' level looks at their local manifestations and compares official politics with the views articulated by the interviewed population. On the regional level, the differences between the popular attitudes towards reconcilia-tion politics are compared by country.

I approached the research question in three steps: First, I compiled the 'informal' interviews as de-scribed above. The 'informal' part did take up most of my research (three months of preparation in both countries and four months of active interviewing) and relied on the interview process and par-ticipant observation in everyday life.

In a second step, the findings from the interviews were cross-referenced with 'official' sources: policy documents, media, and reports from international and domestic organizations as well as secondary literature. The objective was to evaluate the intent and context of reconciliation politics and identify-ing potential feedback loops between the government and the population on a national level.

In a third step, the state of affairs regarding reconciliation politics are compared countrywise in order to filter out similarities and differences, chances and pitfalls of the individual approaches towards societal reconstruction in the Great Lakes Region.

456 Cf. Interview with Marie M., 80, Hutu or Tutsi resident, “Gakombe”, Kirundo.

457 Cf. Interview with Sadi, 45, Hutu or Tutsi resident, “Kamenge“, Ngozi.

458 Cf. Interview with Juvénal, 59, Tutsi resident, “Rohero”, Ngozi.

459 Cf. Interview with Irankunda, 30, Tutsi IDP, „Rohero”, Ngozi

460 Cf. Interview with Marie-Rose, 52, Tutsi resident, “Rohero”, Ngozi.

461 Cf. Interview with Marguerite, 55, Hutu resident, “Gakombe”, Kirundo.

The “official” Level in Rwanda

The research on 'official' positions with regard to reconstruction and reconciliation essentially de-scribes official state politics and delineates the narratives of the political and socio-economic elites.

The analysis relies on official documents and reports, an analysis of Rwanda’s most important foreign language newspaper, the “New Times”, which reflects the views of the RPF⁴⁶², as well as foreign and domestic commentaries by scholars, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, interviews with offi-cials, etc.

The body of source material regarding the 'official' position is richer in Rwanda, where the state has actually set up agencies such as the NURC or the CNLG to grapple with the legacy of the genocide and propagate a view of Rwandan history officially considered correct⁴⁶³. Rwanda’s exposed position as site of one of the most atrocious genocides in human history, its pioneering strategies with regard to transitional justice (particularly Gacaca), and its relative stability and security for researchers have led to a flood of journalistic essays, academic publications, NGO-Reports, novels and even movies about the difficult legacy the small central African country has to deal with. Nowadays, writing about Rwanda has not only become difficult with regard to creating new knowledge, it has also become difficult to remain non-partisan in an increasingly aggressive conflict about the prerogative of inter-pretation as soon as the Rwandan genocide and its legacy come up for discussion⁴⁶⁴.

The “official” Level in Burundi

In contrast to Rwanda, Burundi’s transitional process remains severely under-researched. Although many official documents concerning transitional justice and reconciliation have been created, only very small parts of the proposed measures have actually seen implementation on a national level.

Domestic NGOs like OAG (Observatoire de l’Action Gouvernementale) and Ligue Iteka however have proven to be vigilant observers of political action. The media in Burundi is a more reliable watchdog of government and generally offers a wider spectrum of views than the heavily controlled Rwandan media. During the civil war, some outlets in Burundi such as the “aube de la démocratie” or “le carre-four des idées” actively disseminated ethnically motivated hate speech⁴⁶⁵ similar to Hassan Ngeze’s notorious Kangura in Rwanda, but in distinction to Rwanda, Burundi’s media landscape featured

462 Cf. ARJ, 2010.

463 Cf. Pottier, 2002, 109-129 for a comprehensive analysis of knowledge construction in present-day Rwanda and cf. Byanafashe & Rutayisire et al., 2011 for current Rwandan positions on Rwandan history.

464 Some of the most pitched intellectual attacks I have witnessed so far have taken place in the column-pages of the „New Times“, Rwanda’s biggest daily newspaper. Where Rwandan intellectuals accused the authors of the book “Remaking Rwanda” (Waldorf & Straus (eds.), 2011) of being “vultures” ( Rwagatare, J.: Why vultures have no chance, in New Times, 4.4.11, p.8) and “genocide deniers” (Rwagatare, J.: Remaking Rwanda: Only Rwandans can do it, in: New Times, 19.4.11, p. 8.)

465 Cf. Frère & Marthoz, 2007, 16ff

critical and reconciliatory voices as well. Projects such as the famous Studio Ijambo⁴⁶⁶ and activists like Adrien Sindayigaya used the medium radio from early on in the civil war to foster reconciliation and to search for common ground between Hutu and Tutsi. I also briefly consulted Burundian news-papers “Le Renouveau” (a government publication) and “IWACU” (an independent newspaper), but never conducted an in-depth analysis of the same proportions as in Rwanda. This omission derives largely from the fact that an officially sponsored narrative of the past of Rwandan proportions is largely absent in Burundi. Despite public consultations and regularly repeated announcements of a TRC and special tribunal, the ruling party up to 2014 considered the past of secondary importance.

Furthermore, the individual opinions professed in the media and personal interviews proved to be much more divergent and sometimes more partisan than in Rwanda.

To summarize: the thesis compares 'official' and 'informal' data about the following sociopolitical areas investigated in order to provide a descriptive account of local perceptions of reconciliation:

 The management of coexistence and identity politics⁴⁶⁷

 Historical narratives and the politics of memory and commemoration

 Government initiatives aiming at peace and reconciliation

 Approaches to transitional justice

466 Cf. Studio Ijambo, www.studioijambo.org (24.March 2013) Personal conversation with Adrien Sindayigaya, 5. March 2011.

467 Please also refer to chapter 3.2.5.