Last modified: 2012-03-30 by bruce berry
Keywords: burundi | political | parti de l’unité et du progrès national du burundi | unite | front | frodebu | palipehutu | hutu | tutsi | twa | batwa |
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image by Tomislav Todorovic, 24 Sept 2010
The
National Council for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil
National Pour la Défense de la De'mocratie) was created after a split
in the National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the
Defense of Democracy, the former main Hutu rebel group during the
Burundi Civil War (the other faction, which has kept the full original
name, is currently the governing party in Burundi) . Its flag is
a blue-red-green horizontal tricolour, with the aspect ratio of about
4:5. According to the party website, blue symbolizes liberty,
red symbolizes patriotism, and green symbolizes hope. The flag
can be seen in use at the party congress which took place on 14 March 2010 and
at a gathering in Nyakabiga on 11 October 2009.
Tomislav Todorovic, 24 Sept 2010
image sent by Al Kirsch, 27 July 2010
A recent issue of The Economist has a photo of Burundi
President Nkurunziza holding a vertical tricolor of red, green and white with a
black emblem on the center stripe. Can anyone identify this flag?
Al Kirsch, 27 July 2010
A video posted here shows the same flag being used at used at a rally of the Conseil National Pour la Défense de la Démocratie–Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie (National Council for Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy), which is Nkurunziza's party.
cndd.gif)
image
sent by
Ivan Sache, 27 July 2010
A logo at the bottom of the page suggests that the image on
the green stripe is a black raptor holding crossed sword and branch. The
party is nicknamed "The Eagle's Party" or, even, "The Eagle, Cassava and Sword's
Party", as a reference to its emblem. The "branch" is indeed a cassava leaf.
Ivan Sache, 27 July 2010
image by Randy
Young, 18 Jan 1999
The official website of Uprona (www.partiuprona.org) gives the name of the party as: Parti de l'Unité pour le Progrès National (Unity Party for National Progress). Moreover, it shows two crossed flags, the UPRONA flag (as above) crossed with the flag of Unité. This could mean that Unité and UPRONA have merged, which might explain the change in the full name of UPRONA.
UPRONA is one of the oldest political parties in Burundi. It
was founded in 1959 as the Union pour le Progrès National by Prince Louis
Rwagasore, the son of the King of Burundi. Most of
the members were Tutsis. In 1960 the Belgian colonial administration supported
other political parties and UPRONA lost the municipal election. On 18 September
1961, UPRONA won the general election supervised by the United Nations and in
October 1961, Rwagasore was murdered. In 1966, a one-party system was
established and UPRONA was the main tool used to control the Hutu population.
Colonel Bagaza ruled Burundi with the help of UPRONA from November 1976 to
September 1987. UPRONA was restructured in 1991 (Source: Encyclopaedia
Universalis).
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from the party website posted by Ivan Sache, 20 February 2005
The white and red flag of UPRONA is also shown on the emblem of the party.
Ivan Sache, 20 February 2005
I can confirm now the Tutsi flag of the then ruling party UPRONA (led by Colonel
Bagaza) is white and red diagonally divided. Source: Jeune Afrique
1126, dated 04 August 1982, reported by P. Bissuel from Guer in
Flaggenmitteilung [fmL] nr.
84.
Jaume Ollé, 29 July 2001
image by Ivan Sache, 20 Feb 2005
During its first national extraordinary congress, held on 19 and 20 October
2002 in Bujumbura, the Front pour la Democratie au Burundi
adopted its statutes:
"Title 1. General provisions
Chapter 1. Of the name and headquarters
Article 1.
It is constituted in Burundi as a political party for the struggle and
consolidation of democracy named Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi,
with the abbreviated name Parti Sahwanya Frodebu.
Article 2.
The militants of the Parti Sahwanya Frodebu are called Inziraguhemuka.
Article 3.
The motto of the Parti Sahwanya Frodebu is: Democracy, Work, Equity.
Article 4.
The colours of the Parti Sahwanya Frodebu are green, symbol of hope, and
white, symbol of peace."
The front page of the party website shows the flag of the party, along with the
national flag of Burundi. The flag of the Parti
Sahwanya Frodebu is horizontally divided white-green. Source:
Party website
Since FRODEBU is the main opponent to UPRONA, it is not surprising that it
uses the white and green colours of the national flag, whereas
UPRONA uses the white and red colours of the national flag.
Ivan Sache, 20 February 2005
The Parti pour la Liberation du Peuple Hutu du Burundi (PALIPEHUTU) adopted its revamped statutes during its national congress held on 18 August 1991:
Article 2.
The emblem of the PALIPEHUTU is made of a bent bow and an arrow placed between a hoe and a hammer.
Article 3.
The flag of the PALIPEHUTU is red with in its center a green circle in which is inscribed the emblem of the party in black colour. Red symbolizes the suffering endured by the people of Burundi. The bent bow and the arrow symbolize the struggle for the fundamental rights and liberties.
The hoe and the hammer, whose handles converges, symbolize the commitment in unity to agricultural and industrial development, respectively. Green symbolizes the hope to set up peace, justice and democracy in our country.
Source: Party website
Ivan Sache, 20 February 2005