Burundi violence and extrajudicial executions increase as the EU prepares to resume economic aid to the military junta.
While negotiations are underway between the European Union and the Burundian military junta for the resumption of economic cooperation, the Gitega regime continues its plan of racial domination by eliminating the main leaders of the political and military opposition and extending its crimes also in the refugee camps of Tanzania.
“If Gitega’s unfair justice does not want to account for the fairness of our approach, the judgment of history will always be valid. I have served my people. I want to be judged on my actions. Long live the free Burundi, long live the free Burundian people, long live the Arusha agreements, long live the rule of law and democracy. “
These were the words spoken by Major General Cyrille Ndayirukiye during the show trial of the HutuPower regime in January 2016 where he was sentenced to life in prison for participating in the coup attempt against the dictator Pierre Nkurunziza which took place in May 2015. General Ndayirukiye passed away on Saturday 24th. April at his Gitega prison under mysterious circumstances. According to the version provided by the regime, the detainee was the victim of a paralysis that led to his death at around 3:40 pm on April 24th.
The opposition and society have fundamental doubts that this is a political assassination. According to African diplomatic sources, General Ndayirukiye was assassinated as revenge for Rwanda’s refusal to hand over to the Burundian authorities General Godefroid Nyombare, the Hutu officer who led the coup attempt against dictator Pierre Nkurunziza in May 2015,. General Ndayirukiye (Tutsi) was his second in command. General Nyombare, also sentenced to life imprisonment, is in exile in Kigali, placed at the head of the coalition of opposition-armed groups: FOREBU, RED Tabara and FNL that have been fighting the CNDD-FDD HutuPower regime since 2015.
The coup of May 2015 was an attempt to bring Burundi back on the path of democracy and freedom following the will of the dictator Pierre Nkurunziza to consider null and void the Arusha peace accords (2000). Arusha accords have put an end to the civil war that began in 1993 following of the death of Hutu president Melchiorre Ndadaye, killed by Tutsi officers who feared the preparation of a genocide against the Tutsi minority. In this regard, historians have not yet been able to find evidence that can confirm or disprove these fears. The only certain fact is that the genocide was carried out a year later in Rwanda by the same political forces (HutuPower) that President Ndadaye belonged to.
Nkurunziza’s announcement that he wanted to access a third presidential term by trampling the Arusha accords and the Constitution generated widespread popular protest. Faced with the bloody repression of demonstrators with extensive use of the Burundian Imbonerakure militias (youth wing of the ruling party) and the Rwandan terrorists Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), Nyombare, and Ndayirukiye, together with other senior army officers, they attempted a coup to overthrow the dictator and restore democracy in Burundi.
The coup was brought down due to an internal betrayal of the coup generals. The money to buy the traitors was made available by Uganda, according to recent investigations into the events. Various sources claim that Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni played a leading role in defeating the coup in solidarity with the Burundian dictator, used by Kampala in an anti-Rwanda key.
“The decision to dismiss Pierre Nkurunziza with arms arose from the need to stop the bloodbath promoted by the regime against the protesting population. When we intervened on May 13, 2015, the Burundian people had suffered a lot of losses during the pro-democratic protests.
Activists and ordinary citizens fell like flies under the bullets of policemen, Rwandan FDLR terrorists disguised as fake policemen and Imbonerakure militiamen. The right to protest was blatantly repressed in blood for the exclusive benefit of the Warlord Nkurunziza and his CNDD-FDD clique. We acted to defend compliance with the Arusha Peace Accords and the Constitution. We tried to defend the population and its desire to organize free and democratic elections.” Major General Cyrille Ndayirukiye explained during the 2016 show trial.
Born in Kiganda on July 8, 1954 (Muramvya), Major General Cyrille Ndayirukiye was a worthy high-ranking officer in the Burundian army, known for his unconditional defense of democracy, peace and social cohesion capable of overcoming artificial divisions between ethnic groups (Hutu Tutsi) created by the Nkurunziza regime to better reign.
Ndayirukiye was part of the 10th promotion of ISCAM, the Higher Institute of Military Cadres; the highest military academy in the country. Thanks to his human qualities and intrinsic values, he had known a brilliant military career. Commander of the military training center of Bururi from 1985 to 1986. Commander of the 4th military region. Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Defense and Veterans, in charge of diplomatic affairs. Minister of National Defense. Military attaché of the Burundi embassy in Belgium and Ethiopia. Director of Easbricom, a coordination mechanism of the standby brigade of Afric. Ndayirukiye, he was sentenced to life in prison in January 2016 and banned from holding public office for 10 years following the failed coup attempt in May 2015.
According to human rights activists, General Cyrile Ndayirukiye was like a thorn in the side of the new president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, successor of Pierre Nkurunziza. The diplomatic environment suspects that the inconvenient dissident has been murder in his cell at the Gitega prison. The suspected death of Ndayirukiye comes two days of the 6th anniversary (April 26, 2015) of the popular demonstrations against the 3rd term of dictator Pierre Nkurunziza who was clinging with his teeth to the presidential chair.
The probable political assassination comes after the official tour in several European countries (including France, Switzerland and Belgium) trapped by the Burundian Minister of Foreign Affairs (founder of the Hutupower militia: Imbonerakure). It is the first time in more than 5 years that the European space has been officially opened to a Burundian authority due to serious human rights violations in Burundi, in particular since the end of April 2015, the date of formalization of the candidacy of former President Pierre Nkurunziza for an illegal and disputed 3rd term. The violations are still ongoing and the European sanctions against Gitega (decided in 2016) are still in force.
Several reports from international organizations denounce the massive violations of human rights, public freedoms and the press in Burundi. Several cases of murder, torture, enforced disappearance, incarceration and others whose rapes of women are reported daily. Among these unjust detentions are that of human rights defender Germain Rukuki, that of former parliamentarian Fabien Banciryanino and that of Madame Christa Kaneza unjustly accused of being involved in the murder of her husband.
All these abuses and many others seem to leave the European Union indifferent. Undoubtedly tempted by the need to oppose China in Africa, Brussels no longer hides its weariness and gnaws at the brakes to loosen the financial lives of the Burundian regime. The European Parliament is aware of the genocidal nature of the current Burundian regime but seems to have chosen to support it in the hope of stopping Beijing’s already strong political and economic influence on the small Central African country.
Human rights violations have now crossed national borders to be perpetuated in neighboring Tanzania to the detriment of Burundian refugees. A report prepared by a group of UN experts and released two days ago states that Burundian refugees in Tanzania have long been victims of arbitrary arrests, disappearances and forced repatriations carried out by Burundian secret services, Imbonerakure militiamen and Rwandan terrorists. FDLR with the approval of the administration of the late Tanzanian president Magufuli and the collaboration of the Tanzanian police and secret services.
“In addition to the strict camp policy imposed on them by the Tanzanian government, Burundian refugees and asylum seekers now live in fear of being kidnapped at night by Tanzanian security forces and transported to unknown places or forcibly repatriated to Burundi”, explained in relationship. Political opponents in the refugee camps in Tanzania were also reportedly tracked down, arrested or killed. The security situation in the camps appears to be extremely compromised amid reports that Burundian intelligence agents posing as refugees inside the camps are identifying specific individuals who are subsequently arrested by Tanzanian security forces,” the Tanzanian security forces said. experts. “The government of Burundi must end the repression against its citizens, including those seeking international protection in Tanzania,” they added.
Nestor Bimenyimana, director general of refugee repatriation to Burundi, declined to comment on the rights violations allegedly committed in the refugee camps. The human rights violations suffered by Burundian refugees are a source of great embarrassment for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which manages the camps in Tanzania.
In August 2017, government representatives of Burundi and Tanzania together with UNHCR held a tripartite meeting to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees from Tanzania. Since then the Burundian regime has at carried out various crimes against refugees, finding a weak condemnation from the UNHCR that witnesses helplessly the killings perpetuated in the refugee camps managed directly by this United Nations humanitarian agency.
“The government of Tanzania is aware of the situation and must take all necessary measures to immediately stop and remedy the violations”, underline UN experts who wrote the report. There is the possibility that the new Tanzanian President: Samia Suluhu Hassan (elected on 19 March last following the death of President Magufuli from Covid19) can interrupt the policy of ethnic collaboration between the government of Dodoba (capital of Tanzania) and the military junta. An eventuality that could occur. President Hassan has already shown that he wants to reverse the policy of his predecessor, starting to adequately treat the Covid19 pandemic denied by Magufuli causing a massacre among the population. Magufuli went so far as to prohibit health authorities from reporting positive cases and giving medical treatment to the most serious cases of Covid19.
During the diplomatic tour in Europe, the requests of the Burundian military junta focused mainly on two points. The suspension of the application of Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement and the lifting of sanctions against some personalities including the Minister of the Interior , Gervais Ndirakobuca identified as one of the main creators of the violent repression of popular demonstrations in 2015 and a well-known sympathizer and supporter of the Rwandan terrorists FDLR. This terrorist group is currently suspected of the assassination of the Italian Ambassador Luca Attanasio which took place in the east of Congo.
On the part of the European Union, the main concerns revolve around freedom of expression, respect for public freedoms, the fight against impunity, good governance, support for the private sector (business climate), etc. According to a European diplomatic source, for reasons of pragmatism, the European Union has decided from now on to refrain from insisting too much on the issue of respect for human rights in its interviews with Burundian officials “so as not to sabotage efforts to resume direct cooperation.
The policy adopted towards the military junta in Burundi marks a dangerous involution of relations between the European Union and African countries. A policy that tends to mimic Beijing’s foreign policy based on non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. The EU is preparing to sacrifice democratic values and the defense of human rights, pillars of the European Constitution, on the altar of the free market. A policy of containment to China that will favor the Red Dragon, who, together with Russia, has become the defender of the worst dictatorial regimes in Africa: from Burundi to Eritrea.
News arrives that the European Union is on the verge of thawing 67 million euros for humanitarian aid to Burundi, recently also hit by catastrophic floods characterized by a total absence of assistance from the victims by the regime. The military junta has requested that most of these funds be managed directly. Various regional experts are convinced that the EU will repeal sanctions on the Burundian regime in November, thus allowing one of the bloodiest African regimes to survive.
“The European Union has fallen into the ideological trap of distinguishing between hawks and doves within the CNDD-FDD regime. A lie invented under the advice of some European experts advocating HutuPower racial supremacy that portrays President Evariste Ndayishimiye as a democratic reformer and Prime Minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni as an extremist hawk. In reality, the two leaders are an integral part of a bloodthirsty racial regime that will never abandon power in a peaceful and democratic way.
A regime that has never abandoned the final solution: the extermination of the Tutsi minority. I believe that the European Union is committing a very serious mistake for the peace of my country and for regional stability. Brussels should begin to carefully examine the so-called democratic opening policies of African leaders judged to be reformers. Experience with Ethiopian Premier Abiy Ahmed Ali should have taught the European Union something. At the very least, not to be fooled by skilled propagandists: wolves in sheep’s clothing. “Underlines a Hutu Burundian university professor forced into exile in Uganda for his opposition to the third term of warlord Pierre Nkurunziza.
