Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Burundi: President Evariste Ndayishimiye and Mgr Simon Ntamwana at priestly ordination ceremonies in Shombo in Karuzi province: site of 1993 genocide of Tutsis on a large scale.
This Sunday, July 5, 2020, the Shombo parish in Karuzi province had a party, like no other. There were diaconate and priestly ordination ceremonies organized by the Archdiocese of Gitega. It’s like Bishop Simon Ntamwana had given birth to new workers. ‘’ Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is great, but the workers are few in number ’’ (Mt9: 37). He therefore deserved support. He got it. His counterparts from Muyinga and Ruyigi were there. Support like no other: President Evariste Ndayishimiye had enhanced these ceremonies with his presence. This man, with the appearance of a practicing Catholic, took this opportunity to address the people gathered for this ceremony. We dare to say on the surface because it is clear that what he says and what he does are in opposition. We cannot always speak of God and have a visceral hatred for your brothers and sisters. It’s totally incompatible. The God who created heaven and earth, who created us in his image is a God of love. ‘’ And we knew the love that God has for us, and we believed it. God is love, and who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him ” (1 John 4:16). When Ndayishimiye keeps calling some Burundians “ibipfamutima” (of the heartless), simply because they dared to say no to cheating and violations of the law by the power and who fled the country after having escaped the death or the torture inflicted on them by the services under Evariste Ndayishimiye’s control and the military clique of his party, he is totally outside the love of God. Far from us intending to pass judgment on him, only God is judge, but manifesting such hatred towards a compatriot will never allow him to have his prayers answered. It’s up to him to control what he says, what he thinks about him and what he does or has done. ’Nothing that is outside of man and that enters him can make him unclean. But what comes out of man is what makes man unclean ” (Mt7, 14)
In his speech to the Christians in Shombo who also celebrated the 60th anniversary of Gitega’s Diocese , he made it clear to the new workers that he is also new in his functions and that they will share the task. They will take care of developing the spirits and he will take care of ensuring their well-being; fight poverty for its people. This means that the actions of the Church and those of the State are complementary. The president invited the representatives of the Catholic Church to work together to fight all evil “as the administration and the police helped the Church to fight Zabia” (leader of a sect in Businde in Kayanza province). Members of this girl’s sect were mistreated by the cnddfdd government; some were killed in broad daylight by Burundian police, others imprisoned and others forced into exile. Evariste Ndayishimiye should not give this example because he knows how the management of this case has been marked by serious violations of human rights by services commanded by the ruling clique of which he was a part. When you talk too much, you don’t control everything you say. He dared to say that Burundi will be the light for the other countries of the world at the moment when he himself has just installed a government whose main members are criminals under international sanctions. He also dared to tell religious that they have full rights to tell the 4 truths to the faithful, but that this freedom has limits. This is to tell them that they should not denounce the various forms of violence exercised by the state services to the population. He calls it threatening state security. They will no doubt be silent as they were silent when Evariste Ndayishimiye parachuted himself victorious in the May 2020 elections when the people had said no. The bishops shouted “to the thief” and were silent afterwards, the thief left cheerfully. Today, he teaches lessons, he dares to say that he put God first in all his works. ’Make no mistake about it; we don’t make fun of God. What we have sown, we will reap ” (Galatia 6, 7).
The Shombo’s commune in Karuzi province was not chosen at random by Archbishop Simon Ntamwana. He knows what this locality represents for its main host, Evariste Ndayishimiye and why not what it represents for Tutsis. Because, the two men can diverge on some political aspects, but they converge on a common vision of “Hutu power”.
Karuzi province was particularly affected by the genocide of Tutsis in 1993. Almost all Tutsis were killed by extremist Hutus from Frodebu after the death of the late President Melchior Ndadaye. October 21, 1993 was a busy day for the then governor, his advisers and administrators. They crisscrossed the entire province to remind the Hutu population that the time had come, to kill all the Tutsis as agreed. 21,461 Tutsis were killed throughout the province of Karuzi. The names of the victims hill by hill are known, the names of their executioners are also at our disposal. The killings then began around 5 am on October 22, 1993. Except in Shombo commune where they systematically killed men, women and children, in other communes of the province, they began with men, women and children were killed after, and the last would be killed on November 1, 1993. This much removed province had very late the intervention of the police force, they had to use the helicopters to parachute the soldiers to intervene because the roads were not only in poor condition, but also barricaded by tree trunks.
In 1993, the population of this province had elected Frodebu to more than 70%; today, Karuzi elected the cnddfdd at 87.92%. This is one of the reasons which also pushed Evariste Ndayishimiye to enhance with his presence these priestly ceremonies alongside his militants. He kept saying in his speech that Karuzi province is a beautiful province. This means that whoever calls himself president for all begins, in such a short time, to privilege his electorate. And this is not surprising because Evariste Ndayishimiye is a rallying point on the lips; he is a diversionist at the bottom of his heart. It is from him that comes the difference between ‘’ abanyagihugu ’’ (the people: by that means the Tutsis) and abenegihugu (the owners of the country: by that means the Hutus).
URN HITAMWONEZA once again warns the Burundians about the words of the new leaders of Burundi. Think again, they have their genocide plan in mind; they are only waiting for an opportune moment. Be vigilant and remain united to block this military clique which seeks only to complete the genocide started in 1993.