Burundi: Why didn’t the real planners of President Ndadaye’s assassination think about protecting the Tutsi?
We continue our analysis of the events surrounding the assassination of the late President Ndadaye Melchior. This case comes to the surface with the condemnations of the military and political authorities, including former President Pierre Buyoya, by the cnddfdd justice; judgments that come 27 years after the fact. The court has been looking into this case for a long time, convicts have already served their sentences. Many felt that only the executors were tried, but the planners went unpunished. That 27 years later, the cnddfdd is putting the file back on the table, it is by no means a matter of justice for Melchior Ndadaye and his collaborators, but it is simply a political exploitation of the case to remobilize all the Hutu around the military clique of the cnddfdd losing the confidence of the people for not having succeeded in making a single step towards the development of the country. Its aim today is to sow ethnic divisions among the Burundian population; show that the current leaders are defending the Hutu cause. It is this spirit of vengeance that drives them and drives them to do thoughtless acts, outside of any elementary logic and the law. In addition to these fanciful condemnations, Pierre Claver Ndayicariye criss-crosses the hills of the country to search for the remains of the bodies buried during the various events that have bereaved the Burundian people, leading the public to believe that they are all Hutu killed in 1972. He never showed the remains of the bodies of the Tutsis killed in 1993 by his bosses who are in power today. And he knows full well that he and his team grouped together in what they have abused “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” have no jurisdiction to determine whether such a bone dates from 1965, 1972, 1988, 1993 or 2015, since remains of bodies with clothes still in good condition were shown to the media by the famous CVR of Pierre Claver Ndayicariye.
Ndayicariye and the military clique of the cnddfdd who manipulate it are unaware that in many provinces of the country, more than 99% of The Tutsis were massacred by the Hutu of frodebu and palipehutu; some of them actively participated in this genocide, or their brothers, fathers or relatives. Where are the remains of the bodies of all those murdered Tutsis? Some have been thrown into the rivers and told that water will take them home to Egypt, others to latrines, others to mass graves that Ndayicariye is searching.
All these Tutsis were killed horribly undispersed by gangs of Hutu activated by frodebu admiration, from the governor to the hill chiefs. They took the time to gather them together, tie them up and kill them as they wanted without any intervention. Where were the defence and security forces supposed to protect them? If it is true that these criminals had destroyed the bridges, barricaded the roads by tree trunks to avoid or hinder any intervention, it is also true that in many corners, the intervention was too late or did not even happen at all. Yet the military and police were in almost every corner of the country at the time of the 1993 elections. They probably returned to their respective units after the elections.
Many analysts believe that if these soldiers and police had kept the same positions as they had before and at the time of the elections, there would not have been as many casualties. The military would have saved many Tutsis; Hutu criminals did not yet have firearms, they used only knives. How did the military leaders, strategists that they were, with a supreme military commander, not think to keep the military in position for a reasonable period of time after the elections knowing that the election campaign was so hectic, punctuated by slogans hostile to the Upronist Tutsis. The threat was visible and known to all. Planning a coup d’état for a president elected in this way without taking sufficient measures to protect the Tutsis was a serious mistake. President Buyoya, convinced of his policy of national unity, perhaps did not believe that Hutu would rise one day to take machetes and systematically kill all their Tutsi neighbours.
The UN Commission report (Report S/1996/682 of 22 August 1996) shows that before Ndadaye’s assassination, at least two attempts at coups had been made. Here comes the question of who are the real planners of the assassination of the late President Ndadaye. We have shown in our previous editions that many actors (both Burundian and foreign) would have influenced directly or remotely in the planning of this 1993 coup followed by the assassination of Ndadaye and his collaborators. This seems to confirm that it is not a group of military and politicians of UPRONA alone who are the basis of this despicable act because they would have at least thought to set up a protection system for tutsis scattered throughout the country. Failure to do so would be more than criminal.
URN HITAMWONEZA believes that the cnddfdd justice system cannot judge such cases under any circumstances; that another mechanism must be put in place with sufficient skills to do so. Burundi needs a reconciling justice; not to self-amnesty, but to make objective investigations, to separate the guilty from the innocent; arrest and try all the real culprits, so that all those who are not involved in these blood cases can live together in peace. Everyone must be held accountable for their actions, the murderers of Ndadaye as well as the perpetrators of the 1993 genocide and all the blood crimes that have followed to this day. Only the neutralization of all criminals can give hope for a good future for all Burundians. Since they have power and money, we must first gather all the means necessary to take power out of the hands of this military clique that is now taking an entire people hostage. WhatsApp contact: +31685638237
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