Agnes Nindorera
Burundi

Agnes Nindorera is a fellow at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she researches gender, security, and traditional government models of Burundi. Contributing to a more sustainable security and peace, she is investigating and working to revive the Bashingantahe, a traditional institution that dealt with conflict resolution, human rights, and justice throughout old Burundi. She recently completed a fellowship at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, where she continued her life-long study of the evolution of social economy, international law, and human rights in Africa following the Cold War. A reporter for the past 17 years, Ms. Nindorera was the senior journalist and producer for Studio Ijambo, an independent studio promoting peace and reconciliation. She has also worked at the daily newspaper Le Renouveau du Burundi, Agence France Press, and the Voice of America. Formerly the president of the Burundi Women Journalists' Association, she continues to report on issues of justice and peace in the face of violent adversity. Ms. Nindorera was presented with the 2000 International Women's Media Foundation's Courage in Journalism Award for her objective reporting of the violence in Burundi despite being arrested, interrogated, and repeatedly beaten for contradicting the state-generated media.

Ms. Nindorera's peace-building activities include:

• publicizing information that exposed numerous human rights violations and led to the public identification, arrest, and trial of perpetrators during the civil war;
• using her position as a journalist to publicly condemn violent retaliation and human rights abuses during the crisis following the coup d'etat in 1993, as well as informing society about the ongoing peace process;
• researching the Bashingantahe, believing it can serve as a foundation for rebuilding Burundi and reconstructing peace and stability;
• organizing roundtable discussions on the temporary nature of "justice" obtained through violence and the connection between true justice and peace; and
• publishing a number of articles and essays on Burundi's political situation, ethnic cleansing, and human rights abuses, as well as conflict resolution, journalism as a tool for peace, and heroes and heroines of the Burundi conflict.
  

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