Burundi: Of national unity, all that remains today is a political slogan.
Burundians celebrate every February 5 of the year, the feast of national unity. Deposits of flowers on the symbols of this unity and speeches often mark the highlights of this day. We dare to say without risk of being mistaken that the Burundians are no longer interested in this celebration because unity is not sung, unity is lived. However, today, when the authorities speak of unity among Burundians, one wonders what they are talking about. And everyone is convinced that what is said is not what people think inside and therefore, it is not what they do, speeches and actions are diametrically opposed. We will come back to that.
The Burundians have experienced periods of true national unity when a sick citizen or one having any problem was helped by everyone without exception, regardless of their ethnicity, their region of origin, let alone their political affiliation. There was security and unity among Burundians when we could travel for whole days and at the end of the day, we did not hesitate to enter an enclosure of a stranger and we were warmly welcomed, fed and housed to resume the next day its way. Young people who have not experienced these periods do not know what the unity of Burundians really is. There was national unity, (and we didn’t need to sing it all day long) when charismatic leaders like Prince Louis Rwagasore only dreamed of unity and progress for all without distinction. Rwagasore knew that there were social classes (some spoke of Hutus and Tutsis and Twa), rich Hutus and Tutsis and poor Hutus and Tutsis; and his concern was to raise the standard of living of these poor without distinction.
We offer you this extract from the letter that Prince Rwagasore wrote to Albert Mauss (the master of ethnicity and the ideology of exclusion and genocide in Rwanda and who wanted to implement the same plan in Burundi),: “. .. one thing is certain, Mr. Maus, there is a problem in the country: that of the small and the weak, and they have no race. Whether they are of noble origin, Hutu, Tutsi or Twa, they are above all of the race of the proletarians, the ignorant and the poor people. Let’s give everyone a chance, a right to rise up, to emancipate themselves, without distinction of race: thus we will have deserved Burundi. For the rest, I know the Tutsi, Hutu and Ganwa problem in Burundi better than you do. I can assure you that the victims of injustices will know how to impose themselves against any regime that denies them essential rights, the chances that other nations of the world have: such and such a regime would disappear, it is in the course of history … “
And Evariste Ndayishimiye to follow suit in his speech on 5 Feb. 2021 on the aspect of injustice: “Where there is no justice, everything is at a standstill”, said Evariste Ndayishimiye. He was telling the truth without knowing it, this is the case in Burundi.
By superimposing the two quotes, we do not intend to compare Prince Louis Rwagasore and Evariste Ndayishimiye. Only one thing they have in common is that all of them were created by God (for believers). As for the rest, the two creatures are diametrically opposed; it’s like night and day.
When Prince Louis Rwagasore speaks of unity and progress for all Burundians, when he adopts a unifying ideology, which won him the victory of his Uprona party (where the Hutus and Tutsis and Twa, rich and poor, civil servants and traders felt like brothers from the same nation); Evariste Ndayishimiye (with his cnddfdd become if you wanted the state party in a so-called democratic system), takes pleasure in dividing the Burundians between ABENEGIHUGU (a code to speak of Hutus) and ABANYAGIHUGU (the Tutsis). Among the Hutus themselves, the party of Evariste Ndayishimiye considers that whoever is not a member of the cnddfdd and who does not accept to be at least a member of an allied party, is an enemy of the country to be eliminated by all cost. It is this exclusion based on ethnicities, regions, religions and political parties which are characteristic of the leaders of the cnddfdd who manage the country which shows that the speeches they deliver on the day of the feast of unity do not are just political slogans. In a so-called democratic system, not everyone has to be a member of a presidential party, but everyone has something to contribute to the construction and development of their country. The lack of visionary leaders within the Eagle Party means that all those who are not members of this party are never associated in the management of the country and the country loses important human resources which should contribute to its development.
We will come back to the detailed analysis of Evariste Ndayishimiye’s entire speech during the National Unity Day on February 5, 2021.
URN HITAMWONEZA would like to remind the current leaders of this last sentence of the extract from Prince Rwagasore’s letter to Albert Mauss: ” the victims of injustices will know how to impose themselves against any regime which denies them essential rights, the chances that they have to other nations of the world: such and such a regime would disappear, it is in the course of history ”. Burundians must know that it is impossible for these leaders to change in the right direction because the crimes already committed weigh heavily on their shoulders. For them, it is obligatory to stay at the perch of the country so as not to see themselves tomorrow before national or international courts. It is then up to all of us Burundians without distinction to show them their place. Such dictatorial regimes end up disappearing as Prince Rwagasore said. It’s a question of time. But we are able to pick up the pace because tomorrow may be too late
