Kirundo-Makamba : resumption of hate speech against opponents and calls for lynching of opposition party activists

Last weekend, CNDD-FDD activists in the districts of Busoni and Nyanza-Lac, respectively in the provinces of Kirundo (north) and Makamba (south), organized demonstrations of force. Members of the CNDD-FDD youth league, the Imbonerakure, chanted slogans hostile to opponents and officials of the ruling party called for the lynching of opposition party activists. Opponents denounce a « behavior likely to exacerbate political violence » on the eve of the elections.
INFO SOS Médias Burundi
In Busoni, members of the youth league affiliated with the CNDD-FDD met after community works. They gathered in Rurira village. It is in the Murore zone.
« As we had just participated in community works, most of us were equipped with machetes. Everyone had been ordered to show up in sportswear with a party T-shirt, » an Imbonerakure from Busoni told SOS Médias Burundi. The order, according to our source, had been given by the district leader of the CNDD-FDD, Vital Bucumi.
Dangerous speech
As in any gathering, the representative of the ruling party in Busoni gave a speech. Mr. Bucumi recalled that the elections were approaching, insisting that « all obstacles must be eliminated. »
« We must prepare for a landslide victory. Obstacles to our party’s program have no place in the land of the living, » he told an assembly of Imbonerakure.
And to get carried away : « Do you see the machete? Whoever dares to oppose our victory will no longer have a place among the living ».
« The country already belongs to us, it is ours. No one can tear it from our hands », insisted Vital Bucumi, according to participants in this gathering which was reserved only for activists of the ruling party.
Unwelcome remarks
Some members of the CNDD-FDD who testified under cover of anonymity indicated that « we felt very embarrassed to be in the presence of an individual who makes such a speech ». For these activists, the chief of the CNDD-FDD in Busoni had made the same threats in the locality of Ruheha, in the Nyagisozi zone.
« He calls on us to use violence against activists of opposition parties. It’s absurd », said a young unemployed man who was part of the group. He said that the intimidations did not spare the « less zealous » members of the CNDD-FDD.
Residents of Busoni who campaign for opposition political parties or residents without memebership to political parties, evoke bad memories.
« Every time elections approach, we flee to Rwanda following these messages of hate », regrets an official from the Rusarasi displaced persons’ site. The district of Busoni borders Rwanda.
« We ask leaders of the CNDD-FDD, starting with the President of the Republic, to dismiss this man who calls people to violence », he concludes.
In the district of Nyanza-Lac, the Imbonerakure invaded all the neighborhoods of the district town center.
« They chanted slogans full of intimidation against members of opposition parties, especially CNL activists, still loyal to Agathon Rwasa », say residents.
Foul words
According to witnesses, members of the CNDD-FDD youth league, marching to demonstrate their strength, uttered foul words towards opponents.
« Tell CNL activists to stop lining up behind us. A child cannot make love to his mother, » repeated Imbonerakure in the streets, in the presence of children. They sang in the local language, Kirundi.
« We were used to acts of intimidation and insults. But what happened on Saturday is beyond understanding. Nothing can explain this baseness and barbarity. There were children and their parents as they passed by, » complained a CNL activist.
« CNDD-FDD leaders must call on their activists and especially the Imbonerakure to respect Burundian morals and culture, » insist opponents in Nyanza-Lac.
A spokesperson for the CNDD-FDD was not available to answer our questions.
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A military parade of the imbonerakure in the commercial city Bujumbura, August 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)