The leader of the CDP party (Council of Patriots) in the new province of Bujumbura and three other members of this party have been missing since Sunday, September 15. The party accuses Imbonerakure (members of the CNDD-FDD youth league) of being the perpetrators of this quadruple kidnapping. A leader of the concerned persons does not deny the facts. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

At the time of the incident, Mao Ndikukazi, representative of the CDP party in the new province of Bujumbura, Élysée Hamza, a member of this party and another activist of the same party, were in a bistro in the town center of the province of Cibitoke (northwest Burundi).

« They were kidnapped by Imbonerakure while they were taking drinks with other residents, » CDP spokesman Ferdinand Nkurunziza told SOS Médias Burundi.

He said that members of the youth league of the ruling party who participated in this « kidnapping » accused the four men of « holding an illegal meeting. »

Witnesses confirmed to SOS Médias Burundi that the four CDP party activists were taken aboard a vehicle belonging to Elias Birikunzira, head of the Imbonerakure in the new district of Cibitoke. He took an unknown direction. Our sources also speak of the presence of intelligence agents at the time of the arrest.

Elias Birikunzira also happens to be head of the modern market of Rugombo, in Cibitoke.

« I carried out orders from above, » he explained without giving details. As for the place of detention of the four men, he says that « we must look for them where they are ».

The president of this party Anicet Niyonkuru took to X (Formerly Twitter) to denounce this act.

« Vagabond arrest of members of the CDP party this September 15, 2024. Mao Ndikukazi and three other members of the CDP party are spending their second night in the dungeons of the SNR. They were arrested by the leader of the Imbonerakure of Cibitoke. We demand their immediate release », he wrote on Monday.

Anicet Niyonkuru did not specify the dungeon of the National Intelligence Service where the four men are being held. SOS Médias Burundi was also unable to obtain details of their place of detention. But according to a security source, they are held in a secret location in Cibitoke province. Ferdinand Nkurunziza said that « we have looked for them in all the official dungeons, in vain ».

Recently, several representatives of political parties, although not representative or perceived by a certain opinion as being « subservient » to the CNDD-FDD have been arrested, mistreated or prevented from going to their home village.

In most cases, local Imbonerakure leaders, in collaboration with the police and the administration, accused them of « wanting to incite the population to revolt against the institutions ». Some were detained in administration dungeons, public prosecutors’ offices or police stations before being released without any valid reason being given to them.

Leaders of opposition political parties continue to call on the Burundian justice system to « punish perpetrators of these acts », fearing a situation that is still very dangerous as the 2025 legislative elections approach.

At the time of the kidnapping of the four members of the CDP party, several CNDD-FDD activists were also there, SOS Médias Burundi has learned.

The new administrative division, approved in 2022 by the Burundian government, reduces the provinces to 5, which currently number 18.

In the same delimitation of provinces, districts have been reduced from 119 to 42. Zones have increased from 339 to 447 at a time when villages have increased from 2,910 to 30,37. It will be effective with the legislative elections next year.