Author: IGIHE

{A Swiss court has ruled that the remains of Burundi’s deposed king Mwambutsa IV, who died 40 years ago, must stay in Switzerland, ending a drawn out legal battle, local media reported on Tuesday.}

Mwambutsa led Burundi at independence from Belgium in 1962, but was deposed just four years later in a dispute linked to rivalries between ethnic Tutsis and Hutus, which still haunt the country.

The monarch died in Switzerland in 1977, leaving clear instructions that his remains should never be returned to Burundi.

But his daughter and the Burundian government campaigned for his remains to be repatriated, reportedly hoping to use the occasion to organise a ceremony promoting national reconciliation.

In 2012, one of the king’s relatives authorised the exhumation of his remains ahead of an eventual repatriation.

Mwambutsa’s niece Esther Kamatari opposed the process insisting the king’s last wishes should be honoured.

Switzerland’s federal court, the nation’s highest legal authority, has sided with Kamatari, the ATS news agency said.

The judges upheld a ruling issued last year by a lower court in Geneva.

Amid the legal back and fourth following his exhumation, Mwambutsa’s remains have been held in a cold-storage facility at a Geneva funeral home for the past five years.

Kamatari fled Burundi herself in 1970, ultimately settling in Paris where she worked as a model, including for top designers like Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

She voiced interest in contesting in Burundi’s 2004 presidential election but never made it onto the ballot.

Burundi has been seized by crisis for two years, since President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a third term. The turmoil has left an estimated 500 people dead, according to the UN.

Source:AFP

{Two years after the announcement of the candidacy of Pierre Nkurunziza for another term that plunged the country into a political crisis, Burundi is struggling to see the end of the tunnel.
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The summit of Heads of State of the East African Community next month could pave the way for an end to the crisis. In any case, it is the hope of the Burundian people, who do not want to be caught up in despair caused by stalling talks and a political and economic crisis without a solution.

It all began on April 25, 2015 with the announcement of another term of Pierre Nkurunziza. A term deemed illegal, unconstitutional and contrary to the observance of the Arusha Peace Agreement by protestors.

They took to the streets the very next day, demanding the withdrawal of the candidacy of the outgoing president who had just spent 10 years in office. Protests were harshly repressed by the police.

On May 13, 2015, Burundi faced a failed coup d’état while President Pierre Nkurunziza was in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, at the summit of the Heads of State of the East African Community. As a result, part of the political class, opposed to the third term was forced into exile where it created CNARED platform. The outgoing president had no one to stand in his way during the elections. He was re-elected on July 21, 2015.

In a meeting in Entebbe, Uganda on 28 December 2015, the mediator in the Burundi conflict, Yoweri Museveni, Ugandan President, decided to take the Burundian issue in his own hands. He set a date for dialogue in Kampala in January 2016.

The appointment was rejected by the government of Burundi as CNARED was invited to Entebbe.

Meanwhile, the “Halt to the Third Term movement” was withdrawing from the opposition platform, CNARED.

Bujumbura was, during the month of February, the scene of grenade explosions and shootings all over the capital.

Terrorist acts, according to the government which responded with arrests and a large deployment of police and military forces in the city. Whether or not it was a simple coincidence, Burundi received important visits during that month.

On February 22, it was first of all the visit of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon. Shortly after him, from February 24 to 25, a “high-level delegation” of the African Union, with the presidents of Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania, South Africa and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, arrived. The visits were criticized by the opposition which considered them as a kind of legitimizing of President Nkurunziza.

In March, the European Union officially suspended its direct aid to the Burundian government for non-compliance with its commitments, according to the Cotonou Agreement.

{{A series of resolutions}}

The UN Security Council decided in April to consider the case of Bujumbura. On the 1st of the very month, resolution 2279 decided to send UN policemen to Burundi without specifying their number.

On 13 April, Bujumbura said that “it had undertaken to accept a presence limited to about 20 unarmed foreign police officers.”

The talks resumed on April 21 in Arusha, this time without CNARED, which was not invited by the facilitator Benjamin Mkapa. However, CNARED members who were invited individually were present.

They were threatened to be excluded from the platform. It was not the case, however.

Back to dialogue on July 12-14, 2016, it was a fiasco. The government delegation left the room because of “the presence of some personalities prosecuted by the Burundian justice.”

On 28 July, the Security Council got involved in the process and adopted resolution 2303, which decided on the deployment of 228 UN police officers in Burundi for an initial period of one year on the basis of a proposal made by France. Bujumbura strongly denounced it and refused the deployment of UN police in Burundi.

The year 2016 ended with the shocking departure of facilitator Mkapa. During his visit to Bujumbura to meet with the various actors in this dialogue, the facilitator declared, before his departure, on December 9, 2016, that Pierre Nkurunziza’s term was legal and legitimate.

The last round of the Arusha dialogue from 16 to 18 February 2017 was attended by prominent figures wanted by the Burundian justice. The government, for its part, boycotted the session, which undermined the smooth running of dialogue.

The facilitation, after consultation with the mediator, decided to send an envoy to Burundi. He was the bearer of a message to the Burundian President. The correspondence asked the latter to grant temporary immunity to the people prosecuted in order to participate in the dialogue. The facilitator met with a refusal from Bujumbura. Former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said he was powerless and called for the summit of EAC Heads of state.

{{Reactions}}

{{Charles Nditije:}}

Two years after the outbreak of the crisis, CNARED Chairman says the violations related to the challenge of the candidacy of Pierre Nkurunziza continue. The record shows more than 1,000 people killed, more than 8,000 political prisoners, more than 500,000 exiles. “We take this opportunity to offer our condolences to families that have lost theirs.”

Charles Nditije pays tribute to all the people, especially the youth that paid a high price. He deplores the inability of the international community and the sub-region with regard to this tragedy. We invite them to consider the gravity of the situation in order to put in place mechanisms to protect the population.

The leader of the coalition of the opposition parties in exile proposes an inclusive dialogue as the only solution that will bring peace and security in a sustainable way. He asked the summit of EAC Heads of state to demand Bujumbura to accept the negotiations. Otherwise, he calls for an economic and arms embargo and targeted sanctions for all those dignitaries opposed to an inclusive dialogue.

{{Willy Nyamitwe: “Burundi is not in crisis”}}

For the Senior Adviser to the President, one cannot talk about a crisis when the country is functioning normally and all institutions from the 2015 elections are in place. As for the figures mentioned, Willy Nyamitwe refers to “a war of figures, an exaggeration for political purposes”, of illegal regime change.

For him, even if it were a single refugee, it would be a matter of great concern. Willy Nyamitwe says these figures that are put forward by some organizations including UNHCR, are a springboard for mobilizing funds and creating employment opportunities for sectarian purposes.

As for Burundian citizens who have lost their lives, the government of Burundi has a responsibility to protect all its citizens and even foreigners living on the Burundian territory.

“It is very unfortunate that selfish individuals without faith or law try to proceed with the strategy of terror which consists of killing people in order to attract ostracism on the government and the Defense and Security Forces. What is important is that they have been defeated, some arrested and others are still on the run. Isolated cases of terrorism can be committed in Burundi as elsewhere, but this does not mean that Burundi is categorized as a country in crisis.

{{Security}}

{{Two years without respite}}

These are the two longest years for Burundians for decades. The country has experienced murders, disappearances, kidnappings, arrests… Iwacu looks back on two years of turmoil in security and human rights.

“Two years have elapsed while the Burundian people are living in tears and sadness following the violation of the Arusha Peace Accord by President Nkurunziza and his CNDD-FDD party,” said Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, two years after the start of protests against Pierre Nkurunziza’s third term on 26 April 2015.

This human rights activist advances a figure of more than 2,000 people dead during this period. He says more than 8,000 people have been imprisoned and thousands of Burundians have gone into exile due to insecurity.

Mr. Mbonimpa says hundreds of Burundians have gone missing, the rape of women in front of their children and the torture of hundreds of people. “As we have always said, we are not slaves of Nkurunziza who seized power by force.”

The National Independent Commission for Human Rights (CNIDH) gives a death toll reaching 720. CNIDH recognizes 80 proven cases of torture and 800 cases of people incarcerated in violation of legal procedures.

{{The failed Coup}}

Demonstrations against Pierre Nkurunziza’s third term began on 26 April 2015 in several neighborhoods of the capital. The young and old from Nyakabiga, Musaga, Ngagara, Cibitoke, Mutakura took to the streets. Népomuscène Komezamahoro, a 15 year-old killed in Cibitoke neighborhood, is the first victim of this crisis. After several days of demonstrations, the protesters were gunned down by the police, which also suffered some damage. The aim of the demonstrators was to arrive in the city center.

On Wednesday, 13 May 2015, on the fifteenth day of the demonstrations, President Pierre Nkurunziza flew to Dar-es-Salaam to attend the summit of Heads of State of the East African Community over the political and security situation in Burundi. Since the morning, protesters from all over the capital had been trying to invade the city center but in vain. To a great surprise and for the first time, women arrived at the Independence Square, right in the center of the city. This reinvigorated other demonstrators. “The victory is near”, they said. Other protestors succeeded in joining women in the city center.

In the afternoon of May 13, the information fell. Major General Godefroid Niyombare had just overthrown Nkurunziza. In the protesting neighborhoods and the city center, it was jubilation.

Demonstrators shouted victory. Protesters stood on armours.

This joy lasted only for short, because around 5:30 pm, the imminent return of Pierre Nkurunziza was announced. Protesters began to despair. The coup had failed.

On Friday 15 May, three leaders, including Major General Cyril Ndayirukiye, number two of the failed coup, and about fifteen men were arrested in Kibenga-Lac area.

Some protesters went to ground; others took the road to exile. According to the latest UNHCR figures, there are more than 400,000 refugees. Mass arrests were made. It was the beginning of a long series of horrors.

{{The attack and repression of 11-12 December 2015}}

The security situation was gradually deteriorating. Grenades were thrown into public places. Dead bodies were found here and there. And then, December 11, 2015 arrived. The inhabitants of the city of Bujumbura will always remember this day. Four military camps, the Ngagara Camp, the Higher Institute of Military Officers (ISCAM), the National Defense Forces Logistics Base Camp (BLFDN) and the Mujejuru camp were attacked during the night.

The next day, the city woke up in shock. Bodies were found in the streets of Ngagara, Nyakabiga and Musaga neighborhoods. The army spokesman, Colonel Gaspard Baratuza, said 12 assailants were killed and 21 captured during the attacks. He said the attackers intended to attack the military camps to get weapons and ammunition.

Residents accused security forces of deliberately executing young people several hours after the attack. There were also reports of robbery and rape during searches, what the police denied. Local and international civil society organizations talked about hundreds of civilians killed by the security forces and buried in mass graves.

{{A crisis with great misfortune}}

In addition to these ordinary citizens, prominent political figures, opposition leaders, civil society figures and army officers have been killed or have barely escaped attacks since the beginning of the crisis.

Several officers of the national army were assassinated, including Brigadier General Athanase Kararuza, a soldier from the former Burundian army (FAB) who was assassinated with his wife, daughter and one of his bodyguards at Gihosha area. It was on 25 April 2016. Colonel Emmanuel Buzubona, former rebel of the CNDD-FDD movement, and Captain Elie Mugabonuwundi, from the former army, were killed on 7 April and 20 April 2016 respectively.

After the assassination of Lieutenant-Colonel Darius Ikurakure, ex-combatant of the CNDD-FDD, Commander of the Civil Engineering Battalion at Camp Muzinda, on 22 March 2016 in the compound of the General Staff of the Burundian army, Major Didier Muhimpundu, (from FAB), Deputy Director of the Health Service at the Burundi army headquarters, was also killed. On 18 January 2016, OPPI Anicet Dusabumuremyi was assassinated at the 6th Avenue in Bwiza.

Jean Bikomagu, a retired colonel and former army chief of staff from 1993 to 1996, was murdered on 15 August 2015 in front of his home in Kabondo area. On 2 August 2015, the world learned of the death of Lieutenant-General Adolphe Nshimirimana, ex-rebel, former Head of the SNR (National Intelligence Service) at Gare du Nord, Kamenge zone in a rocket attack.

Among the civilians, there is the assassination on 13 October 2015 of cameraman of the National Television, Christophe Nkezabahizi and his family, as well as the assassination of Hafsa Mossi, the East African Community Legislative Assembly MP, on Wednesday 12 July 2016 at 10.30 a.m. in Gihosha on Nyankoni Avenue.

Source:Iwacu