Burundi. Is the armed opposition active again?
Near Muramvya province, Central Burundi, an unknown armed group set up an ambush killing a senior army officer. This attack occurs one month after the attack on Rusaka. The regime speaks about bandits but there are rumors that the Burundian armed opposition has been reactivate, supported by Congo and Rwanda.
Reports from Burundi indicate that an unknown armed group ambushed and killed 12 people and injured many more in Muramvya province in central Burundi. The ambush arrived Sunday evening around 7.30 pm near a Red Cross antenna on the busy Gitega-Bujumbura axis. The dynamics of the ambush and the killed people suggest that it was a military plan and not a simple phenomenon of banditry as the military junta in power hastened to affirm after the news was picked up by RFI (Radio France International ) and TV5Monde.
Among those killed was Lieutenant Onesphore Nizigiyimana, a senior Burundian army officer who served in Somalia with the African forces AMISOM fighting the Al-Shaabab terrorists. His daughter was also killed while his wife and another child were injured. A staff of the Central Bank of Burundi was also killed. Five seriously injured were evacuated to Muramvya hospital. Other injured, whose number has not yet been determined, were transferred to Bujumbura.
In a tweet written in the national language (kirundi), General Neva (aka Évariste Ndayishimiye) currently at the Presidency refers to an act of brigands. “The brigands made Burundi cry once again. It is impossible that crimes do not happen, but woe to the one who commits them. All criminal networks must be dismantled. We send our condolences to the affected families ”.
The ambush takes place less than a month after an attack perpetrated by armed men in Rusaka in the province of Mwaro, which caused 7 dead and 3 wounded. The Ambush confirms a surge in insecurity just when the military junta of Gitega has proclaimed the restoration of peace throughout the country and the return to normal after the “parenthesis” of the popular uprisings linked to the third illegal mandate of the former HutuPower dictator Pierre Nkurunziza who died of Covid19 in June 2020. The current state of insecurity gives reason to the Burundian refugees who in Tanzania resist the attempt by the Dodoma authorities to repatriate them.
Other signs of the insecurity that reigns supreme in the country are the increasing violence by the regime. The latest report from the ITEKA League records 49 extrajudicial executions since the beginning of the year, including 9 women and 14 underage children. The targeted people are mainly activists from the CNL opposition party whose leader Agathon Rwasa is considered the real winner of the elections held in May 2020. The ITEKA League identifies Imbonerakure militiamen, the police and the secret services as responsible. According to the Burundian NGO, the number of civilian victims of the regime will grow over the next few months.
To put an end to this wave of human rights violations, the ITEKA League calls on the Burundian regime to play its full role in strengthening the protection of citizens and enabling them to fully enjoy their rights and public freedoms. It also calls on Burundian partners to use their influence to force the Burundian government to restore the rule of law. To the East African Community (EAC), the League of Human Rights asks to be fully involved in the restoration of a democratic space in Burundi.
The report published by the ITEKA League is part of the political battle waged by various associations in defense of human rights and by over thirty MEPs, opposed to the decision taken by the European Union to normalize relations with the military junta, after the application of sanctions in 2016 due to serious human rights violations that took place between 2015 and 2016. Violations that continue to this day. The President of the Iteka League believes that “the EU must not sacrifice human rights in favor of diplomatic relations”.
The EU sanctions against Burundi, including the suspension of all direct aid to the government in March 2016, were a major blow to the Burundian economy which suddenly lost its main donor. This resulted in the country losing € 430 million, which was to be granted under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), a program that was to extend from 2014 to 2020. An African ambassador told the Agency Central African News that the CNDD-FDD (National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy) regime is in dire need of European money in order to survive. The economic conditions in the country are catastrophic.
As was the case with the previous attack on Rusaka, no claim has come from the Muramvya ambush. At the same time there are rumors about the presence of a concentration of Burundian rebel forces in the province of Su d Kivu, Congo on the border with Burundi. These are RED Tabara, FOREBU and FNL (National Liberation Forces). Such foreign rebel forces would not fear any problems as the offensive against negative forces ordered by President Felix Tshisekedi does not currently concern the province of South Kivu.
The reorganization of the Burundian armed opposition was made possible thanks to the decision taken by Congolese President Tshisekedi on 2 May 2020 to order his Burundian counterpart to immediately remove his soldiers from South Kivu province. At the time, the Burundian dictator Nkurunziza had adopted the military strategy of shifting the conflict with the armed opposition from Burundi to neighboring South Kivu in Congo. FDNB soldiers (National Defense Forces of Burundi) were engaged in clashes in the territory of Uvira and the Ruzizi plain to prevent Burundian rebels from regrouping in anticipation of an invasion of Burundi. In support of the Burundian soldiers were the Imbonerakure militiamen and the Rwandan terrorists FDLR.
Following this request (wisely accepted by the Burundian regime), President Tshisekedi went to Bujumbura to meet the dictator Nkurunziza to offer him mediation between opponents and the regime. This proposal was rejected by the intransigence of the Burundian dictator who infuriated the Congolese head of state until he suddenly left, interrupting the official visit which was supposed during two days. At the time, diplomatic sources reported that Tshisekedi threatened the Burundian dictator to oust him.
A second cause of friction between President Tshisekedi and General Neva and Marshal Bunyoni came after Nkurunziza’s death in October 2020 when Burundi deserted the Goma summit to discuss resolving insecurity in eastern Congo. The summit was attended by Angolan presidents João Lourenço, Rwandan Paul Kagame and Ugandan: Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The summit dealt with the problem represented by the Rwandan terrorist group FDLR, the main political and military ally of the Burundian regime.
The last military action in Burundi by the Burundian armed opposition, mainly supported by Rwanda and Congo, took place last January when violent fighting between the army and RED Tabara rebels broke out in the town of Nyamuzi, province of Cibitoke. The fighting was to be the prelude to a rebel military offensive on Gitega and Bujumbura, which never materialized.
