Mugesera ghost infiltrated Burundi

Dr Léon Mugesera is serving a life sentence in jail  (Photo:Internet).

Burundi, the country in the South of Rwanda that led by Pierre Nkurunziza. A sportsman, the president and a pastor who prays for National issues and potatoes in farm in order to call grace of God to come upon his country.

In a shrinking environment, Burundi's president has signed a decree setting May 17 for a referendum. If YES gets a win,  Pierre Nkurunziza will be allowed to lead until 2034. Prime Minister post will be created, Vice-president will be one instead of two and there will be no ethnic quota in Police, army and parliament.

In a video that went viral on social media this Saturday, 28th, April, Melchiade Nzopfabarushe,  a former official in president's office and a member of the ruling party CNDD-FDD,  said who will oppose the upcoming referendum will end up in the lake of Tanganyika.

He said that whoever will oppose the government determination to amend the constitution will be killed and thrown into lake Tanganyika.

“We have already made the boats and we will put them in those boats through the river to the lake…those who are opposing should stay in their houses,” Nzopfabarushe said during a public rally, according to the video.

"He who has the president's support successfully achieves his endeavors. That is the message we are giving either here or nationwide. " he added.

Melchiade Nzopfabarushe was given a three years behind bars(Photo:Internet).

Since gaining independence in 1962, Burundi has experienced multiple episodes of mass violence, including massacres in 1972, 1988, and during the early 1990s, which led to the outbreak of a twelve-year civil war in 1993.

Burundi’s past conflicts have stemmed from divisions between social groups, primarily along ethnic lines between Hutus and Tutsis, but intertwined with social and institutional control, economic opportunity, and a history of discriminatory policies.

Burundi’s history mirrors Rwanda’s history. The two countries share the same ethnic groups (NB: in Rwanda,  ethnicity is banned) and have experienced mass violence, but whereas in Rwanda a repressive Hutu government led a genocide against Tutsis in 1994.

In Burundi a repressive Tutsi governments committed mass violence against Hutus. In Burundi, this violence led to civil war. More than 300,000 people were killed during the civil war, which ended with the Arusha Accords, signed in 2000.

On 22 November 1992, Dr Leon Mugesera who was Vice-President of the then incumbent Hutu party Mouvement républicain national pour la démocratie et le développement (MRND) in the northern prefecture of Gisenyi, which was a regime stronghold of the then President Juvénal Habyarimana. In the small town of Kabaya, Mugesera delivered his speech at a party meeting attended by approximately one thousand Rwandans.

In his speech,  Mugesera mobilized Hutus to exterminate Tutsis.  And he said that Tutsi would be sent to Ethiopia, that referred by him as their home origin, via Nyabarongo river.

" I recently said to someone who was boasting about being in the PL [Parti liberal (Liberal Party), pro-Tutsi]: ‘The mistake we made in 1959, even though I was a child then, was that we let you leave.’  I  asked  him  if  he  h adn’t  heard  the  story  of  the  Falashas  who  returned  to  their  home  in Israel  from  Ethiopia?  He  said  he  did  not  know  this  story.  I  said  to  him:  ‘Don’t  you  know  how  to listen  or  read?  Let  me  tell  you  that  your  home  is  in  Ethiopia,  and  that  we  will  send  you  bac k  along the  Nyabarongo  river  so  you  get  there  quickly." he said.

In April,2016 in a video that circulated on social media, Hundreds Imbonerakure "those who see from afar" in the local Kirundi language, youth wing of CNDD-FDD, were shown in military-like formation singing "impregnate the opposition so that they give birth to Imbonerakure".

Rwanda and Burundi communities have had a history of mutual hostility, the high point being the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi where over one million of were slaughtered in 100 days. 

Before the Genocide, there were INTERAHAMWE, that was MRND youth wing. They were trained and given power as Imbonerakure are today in Burundi. What did become a result? Nothing,  except to exterminate Tutsis.

Léon Mugesera was given a life sentence by Rwandan courts. On the other side, Melchiade Nzopfabarushe was given a three years sentence.

Melchiade is one who was caught in public but maybe that they are many like him. Burundi government has to be vigilant to crackdown those who are trying to ignite hate among people so that we will not see a replay of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Burundi.

About the author 

KARANGWA Janvier is a media specialist. He has a bachelor of arts in journalism and communications from University of Rwanda,2017.

Contacts
Email: karangwajanvier55@gmail.com
Twitter: @karangwajanvie5
Telephone: +250782029326 (WatsApp)