http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/opinion/burundis-bit-part-politics.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0
NAIROBI, Kenya — As I thought about the recent violence in the Central African nation of Burundi, I recalled a trip I made there three years ago. I realized that something I'd seen in 2012 was a key to why the coup attempt in May by a group of army officers had failed.
The capital city, Bujumbura, is bordered by hills that roll down toward Lake Tanganyika. At first sight, the lake, which is estimated to be the second largest freshwater body in the world, is stunningly beautiful. But the illusion of a paradise soon ended when I visited the beaches. They were littered with garbage, the shoreline so polluted that fishermen had to venture far from shore to catch fish.
A short drive away, though, is one of the exclusive resorts you'd expect to find, given the setting: the Hotel Club du Lac Tanganyika. During my visit, at least, few of the guests were tourists. Instead, the hotel was bustling with American and European military advisers.
With their Amisom wages, the thousands of Burundian soldiers soon made up a large part of the country's new middle class. Their wealth also helped to create a boom in the housing market around Bujumbura.
-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu
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