Burundi: Elusive armed groups crisscross the country and the police are content to arrest people on mere suspicion
Since August 23, 2020, the average Burundian has been in panic fear; he doesn’t know when the rebels will pass, he doesn’t know when and how the police or imbonerakure militia will come to stop him accusing him of collaborating with rebels he has never seen. The suspected rebels entered the country through two main routes: on August 23, 2020, a group of fighters who eyewitnesses estimated at 80 entered through the lake, headed towards Muhuta and Bugarama de Rumonge. He then invaded the provinces of rural Bujumbura, Muramvya, Mwaro; On August 29, 2020, another incursion was made towards Bubanza and these fighters moved towards Musigati. On the night of August 30 to 31, 2020, they would also be reported in Makamba, Nyanza Lac, direction Rukambasi. Here you understand that from west to centre, then south; from west to north-west, then in the direction of the centre or the North, the people seem confused, they live in panic fear, especially since their entry on August 23, 2020, those who were kidnapped to transport the booty of these fighters were killed. In Mukike, 2 people were killed, others were injured. And the great misfortune of the population is that, after the passage of these groups of armed men, the army and the police rush not to pursue these people, but rather to arrest young people, able-bodied adults and all that are said to be a former soldier, accusing them of collaborating with the rebels. More than a hundred people are already in the hands of the intelligence services.
If the government has said nothing so far and is content only to arrest innocent civilians, it is because it has so far been unable to arrest or kill any combatant belonging to these armed groups. . There are two hypotheses:
The first is that these groups of armed men have become too strong because they can move around the country without being intercepted by the police or the imbonerakure. They have become elusive and highly mobile so much that they can travel across the country without much worry. We say that they have become too strong because they scare the army and the police because, according to some sources, they often pass around military or police positions, but no pursuit is launched immediately after their passage. Others believe that these men enjoy certain complicity on the part of members of the defence and security forces. It is enough then that the imbonerakure see the military and police inactive, their zeal decreases more and more. Red Tabara is the only armed group that has claimed, in a written statement, the actions of August 23, 2020. If this is the same movement that continues these actions or if it is associated with other fighters, we say well done; they deserve the support of the Burundians to get rid of this small group of generals who are taking the entire Burundian people hostage.
The second hypothesis is that the presumed combatants would be imbonerakure organized by the military clique in power to simulate a rebel attack on the whole country, with the objective of killing the Tutsis and annihilating everything called political opposition (it is above all a question of members of the cnl who do not want to integrate the cnddfdd). In organizing this action, they reportedly sent imbonerakure groups to provinces other than their home provinces so that they would not be easily recognized. This would justify the inaction of the police; the non-aggression of the military and police by suspected rebels; the fact that no combatant was captured or killed; the government’s radio silence on this case.
URN HITAMWONEZA condemns with its last energy anything that may endanger the peace and security of innocent citizens. If really it is groups of armed men, whoever they are, who are fighting the illegal power of Evariste Ndayishimiye and his military clique who have carried out an electoral putsch, let them attack exclusively military and police positions, and imbonerakure who are prepared to defend it. We take this opportunity to advise any soldier or police officer who has nothing to be ashamed of, never to agree to die for Ndayishimiye, Bunyoni and Ndirakobuca. And if it is about the assembly of power to kill, arrest and torture innocent people, let the imbonerakure who are used as objects know that they are exposing themselves to death for free for a group of people in power who will not remember no more of them, nor of their families; if they don’t die, they won’t escape jail. The military clique has committed a lot of blood crimes since 1994 until now, it only has time to answer for its actions; this is the only way that the rest of the population will find their living together in peace and quiet.