Burundi. The military junta refuses to cooperate with the UN on human rights. Hard blow for the regime’s friends in the European Parliament.
The refusal of the military junta to cooperate with the United Nations to improve human rights in Burundi represents a severe blow to military junta’s friends within the European Union who were about to cancel the economic sanctions imposed in 2016 for the serious crimes against humanity committed by the dictator Pierre Nkurunziza. European Ambassador Claude Bochu, a well-known friend of the Burundian military junta, is in difficulty and really embarrassed.
Two months after the end of the mandate of the Independent Commission of Inquiry in Burundi, the Burundian military junta has just definitively closed the door to any possibility of independent investigation in the country relating to ethnic and political violence which is still committed with total impunity. The victims of this violence are: the Tutsi minority, opponents, civil society and the hundreds of thousands of Hutus opposed to the regime, sympathizers of the opposition party CNL National Liberation Congress, led by Aghaton Rwasa, real winner of the presidential elections held in May 2020. A decision intended to extend the economic sanctions decided by the European Union in 2016 that the regime was sure would be repealed by last November. Event ventilated by the European Union itself.
The issue of human rights is at the center of political dialogue in Burundi, which is experiencing a serious economic and political crisis that began with the coming to power of the extremist Hutu party CNDD-FDD in 2005 and worsened in 2015 when the population opposed the attempt of dictator Pierre Nkurunziza to obtain the third presidential term contrary to the Constitution.
Popular opposition was repressed in a bloodbath and pogroms began against human rights associations, civil society, opposition parties and the Tutsi ethnic minority. The escalation of ethnic violence promoted by the deceased dictator Nkurunziza and now by the military junta headed by General Neva (aka Évariste Ndayishimiye) illegally in power since June 2020, forced the European Union to impose heavy economic sanctions in 2016.
In 2021, a political dialogue began between the military junta and the European Union in order to verify the alleged improvements in human rights and the promises of reforms and democratic openings made by General Neva. Openings that, if they had really been implemented, would have triggered a process of revision, if not abrogation, of the European economic sanctions that have literally brought the country to its knees.
This political dialogue, carried out by the EU by its representative in Burundi: Ambassador Claude Bochu, stumbled from the beginning, in particular on the question of the very existence of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry responsible for investigating human rights violations committed in Burundi. A structure fully supported by Europeans, but which the Burundian military junta never wanted to hear about.
In the firm belief of the genuineness of the intentions set out by General Neva and under the advice of the EU Representative Claude Bochu (@ClaudeBochuEU), Brussels had proposed to transform the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry by equipping it with a lighter mechanism with greater participation of local authorities , attracting the indignation and contrary opinions of the political opposition, associations in defence of human rights and Burundian civil society.
The EU, also thanks to the optimistic confidential reports sent by Ambassador Bochu on the alleged democratic openings of the regime and on the theorical improvement in respect for human rights, had decided to ignore the opinion of the democratic forces and the evidence presented of an exponential increase in violence against civilians wanted and orchestrated by General Neva and by the Prime Minister, Marshal General Alain Guillaume Bunyoni. Two months ago Brussels had adopted this change in the investigation mechanism on human rights violations in Burundi, hoping that the Burundian military junta would soon feel comfortable and less pressured from the outside, thus allowing an acceleration of the phantom process of democratic openings .
That hope was shattered on Thursday when Burundi’s chief of diplomacy announced at the diplomatic corps meeting in Bujumbura that the special rapporteur, whose appointment is expected in March 2022, will not be welcome in the country because his appointment has been made. “through obvious forcing”.
This was declared by Foreign Minister Albert Shingiro, a well-known extremist of the HutuPower racial supremacy and an open supporter of the need to completely exterminate the Tutsi minority still leaving in the country. “Our democratic and sovereign country will never allow the special rapporteur imposed by force to investigate alleged and imaginative violations of human rights that never occurred.”, Shingiro said in a statement to journalists written in the national language: the Kirundi.
The decision taken represents a setback towards the openings between Burundi and the European Union and a severe blow both to all the European “friends” of the regime and to people of good will including well-known European Catholic congregations who had tried to take a new approach with Burundi following the death of the bloody dictator Pierre Nkurunziza last year. Now the criticisms and warnings of the opposition and Burundian civil society, which have always underlined a continuity of terror and violence between Nkurunziza and the current President Evariste Ndayishimiye, have proved fully founded.
The UN Special Rapporteur for Burundi was created in October by the UN Human Rights Council to replace the UN Commission of Inquiry into the country. Burundi’s foreign minister in his comments last week said the current government has improved human rights, announcing the end of the US sanctions program on the country last month. He objected, however, to the continuation of EU sanctions.
As is happening in Ethiopia, the regime’s statements correspond to their exact opposite. Human rights violations have increased since General Neva’s illegal rise to power compared to 2019–20 when Nkurunziza eased the pressure after securing control of the political opposition and annihilating the weak armed opposition.
To the endless list of horrendous extra-judicial executions with an ethnic political background is added the massacre of inmates which took place in the Gitega prison on the night between 6 and 7 December. According to the official statement issued by the military junta, the incident occurred due to accidental causes and caused 38 victims among the prisoners.
Unfortunately, the truth is different. According to information received by the independent press including the director of African Public Radio Bob Rugurika, validated by civil society sources in exile and Western diplomatic sources in Burundi, the fire caused more than 100 victims of which bodies were thrown into mass graves to hide evidence of the massacre.
It was not a fire due to accidental causes but an arson attack caused by the secret services under the joint order of President Évariste Ndayishimiye and Prime Minister General Bunyoni. The evening before the arson, the prison management had all the files of the detainees disappeared in order to make it impossible to identify the victims. Gitega prison, a dilapidated colonial-era facility, has a capacity of 400 inmates. At the time of the tragedy, 1,442 people were imprisoned, most of them political opponents and members of civil society. Among them were also 50 officers who had participated in the failed coup against the dictator Nkurunziza in May 2015.
The arson aimed at liquidating the 50 officers of the May 2015 coup. Ironically, all 50 officers were unharmed thanks to their military training which allowed them to manage the emergency avoiding death by suffocation or by burning dictated by the flames. The details of the arson would have been brought to the attention of the European Parliament as yet another proof of the false and deceptive desire for democratic reforms heralded by the military junta.
Although in great difficulty and in great embarrassment, the pro junta Burundian military faction within the EU managed to extend the final decision on whether or not to lift the economic sanctions at the end of February, beginning of March 2022. According to well-informed diplomatic sources, it is now more difficult for the “friends” of Évariste and Bunyoni to pass the tale of democratic reforms and to repeal the sanctions.
EU Representative Claude Bochu did not comment on the postponement of the discussion on the sanctions imposed on Burundi. The diplomatic sources contacted underline a strong embarrassment of Mr. Bochu who since last May on various occasions would have almost given for certain the abrogation of the sanctions. However, Ambassador Bochu’s commitment to the Burundian “government” seems more active than ever. Last November, thanks to his reports, the European Union granted new support of 4 million euros for the repatriation of Burundians from Tanzania through two projects aimed at meeting the humanitarian needs of the returnees.
This despite the fact that the international associations for human rights and Burundian civil society have presented since 2020 various evidence of forced repatriation carried out by the Tanzanian police in close collaboration with the regime’s paramilitary militia: the Imbonerakure and violence and abuse of all returnees suspected to support Aghaton Rwasa’s Hutu CNL opposition party.
Again thanks to the good wishes of Ambassador Bochu and French Ambassador Jérémie Blin (@jeremieblin), the French emergy multinational VINCIEnergies last December 7 signed a 22 million euro contract with the Burundian public energy company Regideso to strengthen the supply and access to electricity.
Beyond the curtain of propaganda, this agreement is a de facto privatization after the regime intentionally caused Regideso, one of the most prosperous state-owned companies, to go bankrupt. After putting it out of business, the regime replaced all the members of the Company Council by placing peoples loyal to President General Neva and Prime Minister Bunyoni.
Activists of Burundian civil society forced into exile, inform that the signing of the agreement dated 7 December is purely symbolic as the privatization took place without the knowledge of the population in early October. Civil society also denounces that Generali Neva and Bunyoni will benefit from this privatization. The population, already reduced to extreme poverty, since October 2021 found themselves paying triple electricity bills to the benefit of the President, the Prime Minister and the French multinational. Business is Business.
