In Burundi, Ex-Warriors Look for New Lives

By Marianne McCune

Published March 21, 2005 at 10:00 PM MST

The Central African nation of Burundi is slowly trying to put itself back together after a decade of civil war and more than three decades of ethnic conflict. Burundi is just south of Rwanda and shares a similar history of strife.

But while Tutsis and many moderate Hutus in Rwanda were slaughtered in what is now widely viewed as an act of genocide, in Burundi large numbers of Hutus were massacred under a Tutsi-led government. Voters recently approved a constitution that requires the two groups to share power.

Now another challenge is looming: how to gracefully incorporate tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides of the conflict into a new, peaceful Burundi.

Marianne McCune of member station WNYC reports.

Marianne McCune

Marianne McCune is a reporter and producer for Embedded: Buffalo Extreme who has more than two decades of experience making award-winning audio stories. She has produced narrative podcast series for New York Magazine (Cover Story), helped start, produce and edit long-form narrative shows for NPR and public radio affiliates (Rough Translation; United States of Anxiety, Season Four), reported locally and internationally (NPR News, NPR's Planet Money and WNYC News) and produced groundbreaking narrative audio tours (SF MOMA, Detour). She is also the founder of Radio Rookies, a narrative youth radio series, that is still thriving at WNYC.

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