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Rutana : opposition party leaders say they fear for their security after meetings of the ruling party

On September 11 and 12, as well as September 20, the CNDD-FDD party held meetings in the new province of Burunga (southern Burundi). During these meetings, according to leaders of opposition parties including UPRONA and CNL, the ruling party issued death threats against activists of these parties, and the leaders of these parties in the Giharo district, in Rutana province (southeast Burundi) were particularly mentioned.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The name of « Juma Théoneste » was mentioned during the first meeting. This man recently left the CNDD-FDD and joined the UPRONA. He is not the only one because other members of opposition parties were mentioned. Sylvain Nzikoruriho and Rénovat Hakizimana, leaders of the CNDD-FDD in the new district of Musongati in the new administrative division, were clearer.

« They asked their activists to physically eliminate them or imprison them before the next elections, » said a UPRONA party activist who cited members who participated in the ruling party’s meetings.

According to the same source, names of the other participants in these meetings are known.
They are Léonard Ruhoranyi, head of the CNDD-FDD in Kibimba village, Zacharie Barutwanayo, head of the Kibimba village, Cyriaque Komezurugendo, head of the CNDD-FDD in the Butezi zone and a member of this party in this Kibimba village, Léonidas Bahati.

The meeting on Friday, September 20 at the Giharo zone town center was intended for teachers from the Muzye zone of the Giharo district.

According to participants, the secretary of the CNDD-FDD in Musongati district, Rénovat Hakizimana, warned teachers who are members of opposition parties in Muzye.

« A teacher who tries to talk about the ideology of a party
other than that of the CNDD-FDD will be imprisoned if he is not physically eliminated, » he allegedly threatened.

And added, « a teacher who performs poorly is exposed to a transfer to a place that will be judged and he will have nowhere to complain because everything goes before me first, » without specifying what type of performance it is.

Threats that particularly worry leaders of the UPRONA and CNL parties, because, according to them, words are often followed by acts orchestrated by these CNDD-FDD leaders in Giharo district.

They ask administration and police authorities to closely monitor the security situation of their activists.

Last year, at least 6 activists of opposition parties were assassinated, as well as the district police commissioner in Giharo Japhet Mukeshimana who had started investigations into these murders. The latter was killed with a machete on the evening of January 2, 2024.

The two CNDD-FDD leaders Sylvain Nzikoruriho and Rénovat Hakizimana have always been denounced for being behind these targeted assassinations, but without ever being worried.

Among the few people arrested following these crimes, after long negotiations, is the leader of the Imbonerakure (members of the CNDD-FDD youth league) in Musongati district, at the same time district director of education in this district. But sources within the CNDD-FDD indicate that this only served to cover up real instigators of the murders.

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A gathering of CNDD-FDD activists, August 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)