Burundi: The pressure on President Evariste Ndayishimiye is too strong; the risk of explosion is great.
If there can be uncomfortable situations for a President of the Republic, it is to make a decision which will not be carried out. Which shows that the decision-making centre is elsewhere. For an honest man, resignation should follow immediately. This is not the case in Africa in general and in our country in particular.
Here we are talking about President Ndayishimiye who has just announced immediate talks between the CNC (National Communication Council), an organ that depends on the Presidency of the Republic and those responsible for the media closed or under sanctions in order to reopen them in as soon as possible to contribute all together to the development of the country, in the president’s own words. It was January 28, 2021 when he met media officials and spokespersons for institutions. The declaration of the President of the Republic is normally equivalent to an order, a decision. Let us wait to see its implementation.
President Ndayishimiye also made it known that a journalist must tell the truth. Yes, Mr. President. But, in which country? It’s not in Burundi anyway. Telling the truth in this country is telling what the cnddfdd thinks or does. This is the truth you are talking about.
Among the media that no longer operate in Burundi, there are local media under sanctions, there are foreign media like the BBC and the VOA banned by the cnddfdd power, there are local radio and television stations that have been burnt by the police officers in charge of presidential security (API: support to institutions) whose officials fled the country and for whom the cnddfdd power has stuck international arrest warrants, accused, without any trial, of being putschists. Are they also concerned Mr. President? The answer seems to us to be NO. Let us await the statement of Nestor Bankumukunzi, president of the CNC who could clarify this point after consulting the decision-making circle of the cnddfdd which risks giving him other instructions which go almost in the opposite direction of what was announced President Ndayishimiye. Let no one be surprised tomorrow to hear the president of the cnc say that the president only spoke about local media that are under sanctions or suspended by cnc rulings.
So this is a statement by the president that will not be followed by concrete actions as he is used to doing. Nothing new. We can take a look back with you and see what he said that has been executed since he was appointed to this high office. Where are the prisoners whose release he announced at the end of 2020? Still in prison. Do you know that there are prisoners in the prisons who have won the trials or who have benefited from a presidential pardon but who have just spent more than 3 years there? Where are we with the fight against corruption and economic malfeasance which he constantly announces with exemplary threats to punish those who will be caught? Are the suggested suggestion boxes already installed in all the municipalities of the country? How many hospitals have been built in the administrative centres of the communes? He, himself said at the cnddfdd convention on January 24, 2021 that nothing has been done since he made this announcement. How many leaders have they already declared their assets before taking office as provided for in the constitution? We stop there and everyone can give the answers to all these questions.
We know that Mr. President, the lifting of European sanctions is of great concern to you. You won the battle in the United Nations Security Council by obtaining, without deserving it, the withdrawal of Burundi from its political agenda. The respect for human rights called for by the Security Council in its declaration is far from being a reality in Burundi because since December 4, 2020, more than 30 corpses have been discovered in different places in Burundi. And the criminals are just the people under your control.
President Ndayishimiye is under pressure so that the not yet announced date of February 2021 arrives after making many declarations of good intentions not to say having taken actions in line with what the 27 countries of the country demand EU to lift the sanctions that have weighed heavily on Burundi for almost 4 years. He released the 4 journalists from the Iwacu newspaper; one of the demands of the EU. One point scored. He was asked to release the political prisoners of the CNL of Agathon Rwasa arrested before, during and after the elections of May 2020; he could not. Despite the goodwill he might have, the cnddfdd hawks said no. He succeeded, together with his father Magufuli, Tanzania president, in forcing the Burundian refugees in Tanzania to return. Today, Magufuli’s envoys threaten to close all camps and forcibly return refugees who still resisted to Burundi. In DR Congo, the imbonerakure sent to the refugee camps have succeeded in revolting them to demand that they return to Burundi in violation of any regulatory procedure. About 100 of them from Kavimvira camp staged a sit-in on January 28, 2021 in front of the offices of the national commission in charge of refugees, Uvira branch, to demand that they be repatriated immediately to Burundi.
All these actions and statements made by President Ndayishimiye aim to show good intentions in order to seduce EU countries to finally decide to release direct aid which could allow the Ndayishimiye government to function normally.
URN HITAMWONEZA believes that Evariste Ndayishimiye’s speeches will remain at the level of words, that implementation will be almost impossible, at least for some important issues. If he ever tries to force his hand, he will be more likely to explode because those who do not want the situation in Burundi to normalize are powerful than him. Once again, it is up to the Burundians, in all their differences, to stand up as one man to stand in their way and allow only those who dream of peace, security and the development of all Burundians without exception to evolve.
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